Adding a Maddock Films’ entertainer to her filmography may not happen as soon as Ananya Panday had expected. While the actor was supposed to lead Choomantar along with Munjya (2023) find Abhay Verma, sources have now told mid-day that Panday is no longer attached to the fantasy romance. Reason? Scheduling conflicts with the second season of Call Me Bae, we’re told.

It turns out the change was made recently after it became clear that Panday’s 2026 commitments would overlap with the timeline of Tarun Dudeja’s directorial venture. A source revealed, “The team of Choomantar is aiming to begin filming in January 2026. That clashes with Call Me Bae 2, which recently went on floors. So, Ananya and the makers of Choomantar decided to part ways, with the promise of working soon.”

Following her exit, the makers are said to have restructured the cast. We’ve learnt that South actor Sreeleela and Janki Bodiwala of Vash Level 2 fame are expected to lead the film with Verma.

The source added, “A mock shoot with the trio happened last week. The fantasy romantic drama has been in preparation for several months, and workshops are likely to begin next week.”

What’s the most definitive sign of a show’s success? Its renewal for a second season. Ananya Panday’s Call Me Bae passed that test, right after its September 2024 première. Now, mid-day has learnt that the coming-of-age dramedy’s second instalment will go on floors by November-end.

A source reveals, “Call Me Bae is one of the most successful shows for both Prime Video India and Dharmatic Entertainment. The prep on the second season had begun soon after the show dropped last year. In a few weeks, the cast will face the camera.”

Collin D’Cunha, who helmed the first season, is expected to return to the director’s chair. Much of the original cast, including Gurfateh Pirzada, Vihaan Samat, Muskkan Jaferi, and Niharika Lyra Dutt, will reprise their roles. Sources say that the aim is to amp up the humour and drama, while delving deeper into the theme of sisterhood that became the opening season’s highlight.

“Hashtag Behencode found resonance with the female audience, and the makers want to explore it further. The first part featured a #MeToo track. The upcoming edition too will carry an empowering message, delivered in the show’s signature breezy tone,” says an insider.

Call Me Bae 2 is expected to drop sometime next year.

Where are the rom-coms? That has been a frequent question asked by Hindi cinema fans in the past few years. It’s something Ananya Panday too was missing being part of. Which explains her next two offerings — Chand Mera Dil opposite Lakshya, and the second season of her popular series Call Me Bae.

“We’ll shoot Call Me Bae’s second season soon. I just wrapped a chunk of Chand Mera Dil, which is an out-and-out romantic film. I’ve done films in a cutesy space, but never featured in a dramatic love story,” she tells us.

With director Vivek Soni’s romantic drama and the Amazon Prime Video series, Panday is consciously gravitating towards stories that exude warmth and comfort. Her reason is simple — we can all do with a dose of joy.

She says, “Bae could have been easily classified as an entitled character, but I wanted people to connect with her. She is a mood-booster, when so much of the content right now is action. We underestimate the value of feel-good cinema. Playing Bae was healing for me in ways I didn’t expect. I want my films to make the audience feel the same kind of calm, joy, and reassurance that the character gave me.”

The actor started out with the mainstream campus caper, Student Of The Year 2 (2019). Six years and several acclaimed films later, her criteria for choosing projects are clear today.

“I don’t want to be part of something because I feel it will be a box-office hit. I have to see an opportunity there as an actor. Also, the older I’m getting, the more I feel the responsibility of making decisions. Every time I watch a movie, I buy into it strongly. So, I know the direct impact that cinema has on people. That’s why I have to be part of films that morally align with me. That doesn’t mean I won’t play an evil character, but the [messaging] should be morally correct.”

Playing rooted characters in Kho Gaye Hum Kahan (2023) and CTRL (2024) has made young women identify with her. Mention this, and Panday squeals with joy, “I am a girl’s girl. As a young girl, I [remember] how much I used to admire Kareena [Kapoor Khan] and Alia [Bhatt]. When someone tells me that their daughter loves me, it makes me the happiest.”

Gurfateh Singh Pirzada recently moved into the first house he bought himself and the actor is over the moon. “More than owning real estate, it’s about just being at peace. It feels good, although meri jaan nikal gayi hai ghar banate banate,” he tells us about his new Mumbai residence.

Does he now feel a sense of accomplishment? “I don’t know about achievement, but it’s more about pride,” replies the 28-year-old, adding that it took 11 years in the industry to reach this milestone. 

Reflecting on the journey, he says, “It’s been difficult, but also great. I am more settled now; I had to say no to a couple of projects because the dates were clashing. My manager said it’s a good problem to have.”

But Gurfateh, who is set to star in a web series with actor Raveena Tandon, admits that this comes after a tough spell where over half a dozen of his projects got shelved. “Those days were very difficult; seven to eight projects of mine went down the drain and I was depressed for a long time,” he shares, adding, “But bade bade actors ki filmein shelve ho rahi thi toh main kaun hi tha.”

Ask if there was a specific project that turned things around and he says, “Class (web series, 2023) gave me a new lease on life and right after that, Call Me Bae happened. It gave me a glimmer of hope. But there’s still the question ‘Is he a viable actor?’ Woh jung main abhi bhi ladd raha hoon.”

Making the transition from singing to acting wasn’t easy, but Lisa Mishra learnt it all on the job. After foraying into acting with Call Me Bae, the singer will be seen in The Royals, which is led by Zeenat Aman, Bhumi Pednekar and Ishaan Khatter. For Mishra, who is taking baby steps into acting, working alongside such talented artistes was a dream.

“Working on The Royals was like going to acting school. As a new actor, having the opportunity to work alongside Zeenat ma’am, Ishaan, and Bhumi, who are unique in their craft, was enriching. Every day on set felt like a masterclass,” she says.

The Netflix show, produced by Rangita Nandy, was largely shot in Rajasthan. Mishra says when she was not facing the camera, she was studying her co-stars’ performances.

“How they approach each scene taught me so much about the subtleties of the craft. Zeenat ma’am has a nuanced way of conveying emotions with minimal movement— it’s all in her eyes, the slight tilt of her head, and the way she carries silence within a scene. Ishaan finds spontaneity in every take, while Bhumi’s methodical approach brings such honesty to her performance. Every day, I was observing how they broke down complex scenes, and used silence or pauses to convey even more than dialogues could.”

Please don’t judge for what the algorithm throws on my Instagram, but I have seen videos of paparazzi calling for Ananya Panday’s attention, yelling, “ACP, ACP, ACP…”

WTF is ACP, we naturally ask Ananya, who goes, “Full props to paps for creativity.” 

She was once stepping out of the Mumbai Police’s annual gala, named Umang, where it occurred to photographers posted outside to call her ACP, as in, Assistant Commissioner of Police.

The name stuck. Sometimes they call her Bae. Meaning, the Prime Video series, Call Me Bae, that she headlined in 2024. 

“But there, they go, a-bey, abey, eh,” Ananya says. Sounds crass. She doesn’t like that so much. She likes ACP. As in, which is what I first thought, ‘Ananya Chunky Panday’, since it’s a common practice to use father’s name as middle name.

Chunky, as in the Bollywood star, from the ’80s. He has a brother called Chikki, who I had the privilege of knowing, at some point—a businessman, I realized, who was the go-to guy for many in Bollywood, if they ever got into trouble with the government, or wanted some issue or the other fixed, pronto—with customs, police, excise, etc.

Chunky, Chikki, these are kinda weird names, too, no?

Ananya laughs, “My father is Suyash. Chikki chachu is actually Alok. They keep telling me stories of how they got their [pet] names, but I don’t believe them.”

“My dad says he was very chunky, when he was born. Which is not true. He was a stick [figure]. Chachu says he loved eating chikki.” But then you don’t start out eating chikki as an infant, when you get named, anyway.

Chunky calls Ananya, Wazi: “It’s strange. He calls my mom and my sister, and now our dog, Wazi, too. I think he fears that he’ll forget our names.”

Sticking to Insta reels still, the one with Ananya that went the most viral, actually, had to do with her co-actor, from Gehraiyaan (2022), Kho Gaye Hum Kahan (2023), Siddhant Chaturvedi, over a round-table conversation, with young actors, discussing nepotism in the film industry.

Ananya was roughly making a point about how nepotism may be too blanket a term. Which is when Siddhant chimed in with the now-famous line, “When their struggles begin, is when our dreams get realized!” With a foot in the door of the film industry, after all.

“I think Siddhant had just written that line in a hidden notebook, and was simply waiting to blurt it out,” Ananya laughs. 

To add, “I can joke about this, because he is one of my closest friends in the industry. This insider-outsider is such a dividing line, anyway. What I was trying to say is everybody has a different story. You have to eventually resonate with audiences. And many people with film backgrounds, don’t; several from outside, do.”

To think of it, while her father Chunky was indeed a star—his stardom years would probably hover between the mid-80s to early ’90s—“films like Vishwatma, Aankhen, Tezaab…”

Ananya knew of them, but ever since she was born, in 1998, “he had moved on to negative parts, and ‘character-actor’ roles.” 

Back in the day, we also used to hear about Chunky being a super-star in Bangladesh! Not that I’ve seen any of Chunky’s Bangladeshi films; fair then to wonder if it’s even true? 

Ananya says, “I have met his fans from Bangladesh. It’s definitely true.”

We actually got to Ananya’s name-business in the conversation, because of Saif Ali Khan’s daughter, Sara, who went to Dhirubhai Ambani International School, with Ananya. But would choose to never call her by her name. She’d just say, “Aye”. As in not the first letter of Ananya. Just, “Aye,” for anonymous.

From Ananya’s account, Sara comes across as quite the vicious senior. If Ananya saw Sara coming down the steps in school, she’d just take the other staircase: “She was so ‘mufat’ [loud-mouth], I was always scared of what she’ll say to me.” 

They did a play together, where Sara was the lead, and Ananya would hold the umbrella for her.

They, of course, get along famously now. Sara had just texted Ananya for her stellar performance in Vikramaditya Motwane’s CTRL (2024), before we began this episode of Sit with Hitlist, wondering how much older Ananya was from Sara, since she’s the youngest to feature in this series; with Sara, before her.

“She’ll kill me if I told you [how old is Sara],” Ananya smiles. But when you’re in school together, you will know, if you’re in Class V. Well, Sara was in Class VIII then—debuting in films in 2018, with Kedarnath. The same year Janhvi Kapoor debuted with Dhadak. 

Together, the three could form the top female trio of GenZ leads in Bollywood, currently. To give you a sense of the passage of time, when Sit with Hitlist started (in 2017, with Aamir Khan), none of them were professional actors.

Ananya belongs to Bollywood’s class of 2019, starting with Student Of The Year (SOTY) 2—Karan Johar’s teeny-bopper franchise, aimed at introducing fresh faces in mainstream Hindi films. 

Ananya claims her jaw dropped, when she first saw Alia Bhatt, similarly, enter the screen with SOTY. That’s her inspiration. Ever since she can remember, Ananya maintains she’d always wanted to be a Bollywood heroine.

“My dad had a handy-cam, with a rotating screen—a selfie, before the selfie. I was obsessed with performing lines and songs before it. Even at birthday parties, nobody had to ask—I would just dance for everyone.”

For further proof of the Bollywood bug, Ananya informs she has three things stuck on the wall of her vanity van: “A picture of Lolo [Karisma Kapoor]. A picture of Salman Khan. And [Kareena Kapoor’s] line [from Jab We Met]: Mein apni favourite hoon.” 

That’s what she admiringly gazes at, every day, before stepping out that van-door, to shoot! Which kinda also explains the early moves in her career, besides SOTY 2, of course. 

It’s the sort of work that should ideally fetch you a poster in the backseat of an autorickshaw—the old barometer for a heroine’s success in fan-culture: “Oh, it hasn’t happened to me yet. Please do send me, if you find one [i.e., a pic of hers on either side of an auto-rickshaw seat].” 

Just putting it out there, if you do find one. With her subsequent films, hence, Ananya went full-on small-town. For instance, as the hot distraction for a married man in Pati Patni Aur Woh, a rustic remake of the Sanjeev Kumar classic, that was a decent hit, with Kartik Aaryan.

Likewise, she was off to Mathura/Agra in Dream Girl 2. Not that realism was the film’s strong suit, it was still a world quite far removed for a Bandra-bred. 

Ananya says, “I’m a director’s actor. In the sense of absorbing instructions, or their insights into small-town. That apart, just walking around, shopping for mithai, being on the boat in Mathura, for a live location, gives you a feel of the world, pretty quickly.”

She could’ve carried on the same way—made it in life, though maybe not with glowing reviews. Critical acclaim doesn’t equal crores, anyway. 

Only, a certain “switch” happened in her career, wherein you can seamlessly observe an Ananya, who’s so un-Ananya—going deeper into roles, with effortlessly subtle, character-driven cinema, reflecting zeitgeist, or spirit of the times. 

What was that switch? Ananya describes it quite precisely: “[Director] Shakun Batra. He taught me to develop my process as an actor [with Gehraiyaan]. We did workshops together, with Siddhant, Deepika [Padukone]. 

“Even though I wasn’t playing the central part, I got to build a backstory for a character, that won’t even be seen on the screen. I inculcated all of that into my own training, for all my films [thereafter].”

She clearly remembers going up to meet Shakun (Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, Kapoor & Sons), first. “As you know, I’m a complete Hindi film person. I was really nervous. I thought he would be some hi-fi intellectual. So, I watched two Polish movies, to talk to him…”

Which two Polish films? “Now, I can’t remember their names,” Ananya says. Going back to Insta reels, she’s convinced this bit of the conversation will start getting shared online. The same way she got trolled, when she once admitted she hadn’t watched The Godfather!

As with Indian cinema and Satyajit Ray, among film buffs globally, Polish cinema gets most instantly associated with director Krzysztof Kieślowski. 

I wonder if she’d seen one of Kieślowski’s films? I bring up later in the chat. “Yes, [Kieślowski’s] Red was one of the films I’d seen.”

So, if the first clip from the video of this conversation does get passed around for trolling purposes, only fair that this second part is added to it too. Just saying. That said, Ananya sighs in relief, “Shakun turned out to be so chill. He’s from Delhi. My boy, basically.”

It’s not like Ananya hadn’t been through a workshop process with her debut, under Dharma Productions. But that was different. 

“I was 18. That workshop was mainly to open me up to the camera—learn [to tell] the wide-shot, from close-up. Tiger [Shroff; co-star in SOTY 2] would literally move me around, to take my mark, catch the light. I had no idea.”

She adds, “Contrary to popular perception that I grew up [in the film industry]—my dad took me to a set, only once.” That was some picture, Ananya recalls, titled “Fresh Lime or something”, which never got released—a common phenomenon, couple of decades ago. 

Gehraiyaan, for instance, was possibly the first Indian film to engage an ‘intimacy coordinator’ on the set, to execute lovemaking scenes: “It’s a must for every set. It’s about consent. But beyond that, I was too conscious as an actor, too self-aware—diligent, teacher’s pet, doing as told.”

“Which is what I’d be with Punit [Malhotra, director of SOTY 2]. But I may not find that with every director, Shakun told me. So, I had to develop a voice of my own—do a [self-interpreted] ‘take, for the love’, which might make it to the movie.”

This making of Un-Ananya involved “workshops with acting instructor, Atul Mongia, who makes you go deep into inner emotions; voice-coaching with a training institute called Strictly Speaking, breathing exercises….”

There is training on “physicality and movements” that she’s undergoing right, currently, for a 1920s period project she’s working on—that “she’s dying to talk about”, but has been forbidden from. Fair enough.

The filmography that followed Gehraiyaan speaks for itself. Okay, there was that ludicrous Liger that happened after, too. Seriously, what the hell was that? Let’s not talk about it? “You don’t have to, it’s fine,” Ananya mutters.

We move on, to: Kho Gaye Hum Kahan (KGHK), CTRL (pronounced Control), Call Me Bae (CMB). The latter is a fully frivolous/fluffy series, about a ditsy damsel, going through two lives, offline, and on the Internet. “I’m even shocked that you’ve seen it,” Ananya qualifies. 

True. I may not the TG (target group), but there is a flip that occurs somewhere towards the end of third episode of CMB, with commentary on TV news media (which is a spoof of itself), that gives the show, proper legs to stand on, thence. Apart from the accepted genre, of course.

Ananya agrees, “It’s the kinda content, I’d wanna watch, as an audience. Whether or not I’m in it. That’s what I look at [in a script], now.”

For all the fluff, Call Me Bae had something to say. “And it’s aligned with my beliefs, very strongly. Sometimes, as an actor, you’re told not to speak up so much. Or to not get political. But when you can do that, with your work, it’s so beautiful! You also reach a much wider audience.” 

Besides fine music, great performances—particularly Ananya’s; so viscerally easygoing, and easy on the eye—what’s common to KGHK, CMB and CTRL?

That she goes through heartbreak, each time! “That’s my signature. Salman Khan takes his shirt off [onscreen]. I get cheated on! I don’t want it,” Ananya laughs.

Jokes apart, what else is common between KGHK, CMB and CTRL? GenZ, and its relationship, with technology. Or, social media, to be more precise, that totally drives the mediascape, if not the world, circa 2024.

Ananya reasons, “I know people are seeing them as a trilogy of technology movies. That wasn’t the plan. But being a GenZ, these topics are attractive to me, to talk about—and that no one in cinema is [doing it]. It’s been under-represented—technology is the third part of everyone’s lives.” 

Who else to frame such films but a GenZ herself. Making Ananya also the right person, at the right place, time and age, 25, taking the new-turn, on the Bollywood front. 

For a film like CTRL, for instance, where she’s in every single scene—as a young, tech-savvy YouTuber, switching between devices/screens—Ananya herself would be as much a muse as the maal (research) for the movie, no? 

At an experiential level, she certainly knows more about the world being surveyed than the writer-director (Vikramaditya Motwane) himself. She agrees. Which is why she was brought onboard the writing process as well. 

“There was a writers’ retreat in Goa with Vikram, screenwriter Avinash [Sampat], Sumukhi Suresh [the dialogue writer]. And I was called over to sit in on the discussions. That’s when I’d make suggestions, too. Such as the fact that the [lead’s] name should be Nalini, and that she’s trying to fit in, and be cool, by calling herself Nella, instead.”

Just as Bae is actually Bella, in CMB? “In hindsight now, they sound similar. It didn’t feel like that, when I was shooting them, though,” Ananya smiles. CTRL was shot over 16 days, with work on edit, for screen-life genre, that took 16 months!

Ananya says, “The shoot itself had no green screens. The way you saw you it is the way we filmed it. In the sense of me holding two phones [one as prop, and the other as camera]. I got to design the AI [emoji] I talk to in the film too. Which is not the version in the final film.”

For inspiration for her three top films, lately—where Ananya plays a social media fiend/influencer—she’d have to look no further than her own family.

Her first cousin, Alanna Panday (Chikki’s daughter), who—much like Bae, and her bae, in CMB—publicly channels her complete married life, with her partner, Ivor, through their YouTube channel (1.4 million subscribers), and on Instagram (2 million-plus followers).

Alanna and Ivor recently got themselves a multi-part reality series, The Tribe, that dropped on Prime Video. Albeit more as a Bollywood star, rather than a content-creator type, Ananya herself metaphorically leads 25 million followers on Instagram.

I wonder what she makes of the influencer culture herself, while very much a part of it, in a sense.

She says, “I see it with Alanna and her husband. They put out every part of their lives. You’re never present; in the moment. It’s hard work. And then you see what works [online]. So, maybe, you’re not into PDA [public display of affection], but there’s traction, so you do it. As actors, we don’t have to be so public.”

Ananya’s a phone addict, nonetheless. Like so many of us. Her mother, Bhavana, though, she says, is more cued in to social media. Bhavana, of course, became quite the reality TV star through the Netflix series, Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives.

By the way, that’s where I first saw this thing called the Paris Debutants’ Ball, with Maheep and Sanjay Kapoor’s daughter, Shanaya, on the ballroom floor, among supposed global elites. Sorry to sound terribly middle-class, but WTF is a debutants’ ball—a Jane Austenian matchmaking soiree?

I ask this to Ananya, because she debuted on the social scene, similarly, in Paris, with the same event, that lists Vanity Fair as its title sponsor. Vanity Fair organises this?

“I’m actually not good with these things [details]—it gets covered in Vanity Fair, yes. Honestly, when my mom first got this invite over mail, she thought it was a prank.

“What I really liked about it is that, well, I didn’t study abroad. I see that with my sister [Rysa], who goes to Tisch [School of the Arts] in New York, and gets to interact with people from all parts of the world. I got to do that at the ball. Then, it’s also the first time we went through camera, hair, make-up—it was a training of sorts.”

What is it, though? “I was 17. As were everyone else—Reese Witherspoon’s daughter, Ava; [comedian] Steve Harvey’s daughter, Lori; the guy [with me] was the prince of Sweden, that I found out later… They pick 20 girls from across the world. We are all in touch.”

I’m guessing a networking event for the young then, and their folks, perhaps.

It’s easy to tell how Ananya would’ve easily fit in, though. There’s a natural gal-pal quality about her. Not that I’m friends with too many her age—but you can tell.

Also, as she fills you in on her family friends, or BFFs, as it were: Shanaya, Navya Naveli (Amitabh Bachchan’s grand-daughter), Suhana (Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter).

Their WhatsApp group is called Charlie’s Angels. There’s another one, Ananya’s Fans: “Named by me, of course,” she says.

Her fans online, incidentally, are called ‘Ananyans’! She provides them a fair peek into her life, through paps, and posts online. This is stuff that makes showbiz, showbiz, anyway.

Outside of that, I think there’s a relatable side to Ananya as a pure conversationalist. She might look a bit of an insouciant space-cadet. Which was my impression of her—changed totally by the fact of how she chats so unaffectedly. To the point that when our hour-long time’s up, she goes, “What? It’s over? Weren’t you gonna ask me about Orry?”

Did tell her that I would. Because we saw a coaster lying in the coffee-table of the studio that said ‘Orly’—shortened form of ‘Oh, really?” We misread that as Orry, before the chat began. 

So, since she asked for it—may as well educate readers on the existentialist query, “Who the hell is Orry?” We mean the social media influencer, who’s only papped with movie-stars, except, nobody knows what he does for a living.

Ananya and Orry are, evidently, friends. And I don’t mean the question in terms of the phenomenon itself—of people famous, for being famous. Instagram is simply the new Page 3. But, no, we must know—who is Orry?

Ananya says, “I’ve known him 10 years.” Where did she meet him? “At a nightclub called Tryst [in Lower Parel]. He’d come with common friends.”

Who was this common friend? “Can’t remember. I think Shanaya. But he’s been friends with all of us—much before we became actors. He went to college in LA, with Janhvi. He was in the same year, if not the same class, with Sara, in school.”

Sara went to Dhirubhai. Ananya tells me, “He’s a South Bombay boy, who went to Cathedral [School].” And then she adds, “I’ve known Orry for a decade, but I still don’t know what his family looks like.”

“Whatever he’s doing is working [for him]. I could make a five-minute documentary on Orry and you still won’t know who he is. He’ll always be a mystery.” Okay then. Or, well, whatever.

Last year, Vir Das bagged the International Emmy for Best Comedy for his special, Vir Das: Landing. Come November 25, the actor-comic will head back to the prestigious gala in New York—this time as the host. With this, he becomes the first Indian to achieve the feat. It’s quite an honour, but Das says he is “pretty chill” about it.

“We just announced it, but I’ve known about it for a few months. The expectations are high and I’ll celebrate if I get it right. I’m now starting to put pressure on myself. I’ll write it myself. The jokes will be a mix of things—it will be a few weeks after the American elections, enough things would’ve happened in the world. Plus, there will be many nominees and content makers in the audience whom I want to talk about. I want to get something like this absolutely right,” he shares.

It has been an eventful month for Das, who also featured in Call Me Bae, led by Ananya Panday. Creating the character of TRP-hungry news anchor for the Collin D’Cunha-directed series was deeply satisfying.

“I’m not the first person you think of when you think of a Dharma show. I didn’t want to make my character a YouTube sketch version of a journalist. So, Collin and I decided to make him a badass when he is in front of the camera; he can deliver lines. But we made him an idiot off camera. I played it with authenticity and a little bit of menace.”

Tell him the references for his news anchor act are obvious, and he says, “My first job was at CNBC. So, I’ve been in the newsroom long enough to know how journalists operate. At the core, he idolizes and resents privilege at the same time. He wants to wear Prada, but he also hates people in Prada.” 

His next is a yet-untitled film that he has directed with Kavi Shastri for Aamir Khan Productions. Did he enjoy direction? “This project is the toughest and the most fun thing I’ve ever done. I fell in love with it, like I did with stand-up comedy. Now, I want to try and write the next five things I star in. I want to start doing what an Adam Sandler or a Ben Stiller does, which is creating projects. Also, I want to play a dark villain in a movie.”

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Why is there no Indian alternative to Emily In Paris? Or maybe there is, in Ananya Panday’s Call Me Bae. The upcoming comedy tells the story of a rich heiress, Bae, who suddenly finds herself without her fortune and privilege. Tell Panday that her maiden web series’ premise reminds one of Legally Blonde (2001), 2 Broke Girls and Schitt’s Creek, and she says it has a bit of all of them.

“We need comfort shows and films. Happiness is highly underrated after a long day. You don’t always want to finish your day with something intense; sometimes, you want to be soothed. This show also helped me explore my comic timing. I loved this script. I read all eight episodes in one night,” she says.

To build her character—whom she describes as “positive, kind and uber rich”—for the Collin D’Cunha-directed series, Panday relied on the script, and some of her favourite feel-good movies. She, however, quickly adds, “But when I was acting, I avoided all of my favourites. Bae is culturally contextualized. I went into her relationships and her backstory. Karan [Johar, producer] is right, Bae could easily be a mini Poo.”

What was most important to the actor was to humanize the character. “Bae is a product of a great writers’ room. Plus, women telling women’s stories really benefits this. Women characters feel so well-rounded. There is a scene where she is talking to her bag. It seems ridiculous to people, but to Bae, that’s the only way she can let out what she is feeling. Imagine a girl so lonely that on her birthday, the only thing she can talk to is her Louis Vuitton bag! Her vulnerabilities make her who she is. She is lonely and was invisibilized.”

The Prime Video offering is also a Mumbai story in a way. Through the Delhi-based protagonist who begins her life anew in Mumbai, the story shows us the city’s hustle culture.

Panday agrees that hustle is “not a far-away life” for her. “A lot of people I know aren’t from the film industry. For me, as an actor who has friends here, I know the landlord stories, the deposit issues and [I have] the awareness that to make it [big here] is difficult and aspirational for many.”

In the past, the actor has attempted comedies. But on this one, she has teamed up with International Emmy-winning comic-actor Vir Das, an experience that she says sharpened her comic skills. “We didn’t meet till we were on set. We started shooting together, and I was reacting naturally to everything. There is one upmanship between the two characters, and I, as Ananya, was getting thrown off. On screen, Vir is playing a deliciously villainous character, but he is so warm off camera.”

Her heiress-turned-hustler act in Call Me Bae, however, furthers the idea that Panday chooses urban narratives and isn’t exactly a natural fit for massy stories. This, even though her filmography includes Pati Patni Aur Woh (2019) and Dream Girl 2 (2023). Does she avoid heartland stories? The actor has a different take on the matter.

“There is no one way to be relatable. Even if you don’t look like them, a story can make you relate to them. For instance, Korean films work for us because human emotions are universal. I don’t want to limit myself to doing certain characters from a certain location. You don’t need a certain kind of story to be remembered. I want people to revisit my work. Sometimes shows like Sex And The City are watched again and again, because they don’t take themselves seriously. People watch comedies and think it’s easy to do them, but it’s not. After Kho Gaye Hum Kahan [2023] and Bae, I am challenging myself and I am not getting attached to labels.”

Although Ananya Panday has tasted success with Dream Girl 2, her desire to perform comedy on screen is yet to be fulfilled. Admitting that comedy is a difficult genre to crack and that she could only react to it in the Ayushmann Khuarrana-starrer, she says, “I was part of a situational comedy in Dream Girl 2. I was reacting to everything around me, so I cannot take credit for that. However, in Call Me Bae, I will be doing more comedy.”

The Amazon Prime Video series, announced earlier this year, marks Ananya’s debut in digital entertainment. The Dharmatic production revolves around a wealthy fashionista who is eschewed by her family owing to a controversy. For the first time in her life, she is left to fend for herself while navigating stereotypes and prejudice.

It’s a trade practice for people in the genre to be able to laugh at themselves before laughing at someone else. Ananya put this practice to use on the set of Call Me Bae.

“Sometimes we overthink things like, ‘If we make this face, we will look silly. If we try to improvise, it will not come out correct.’ I believe comedy is about being uninhibited with being silly and willing to make a fool of yourself,” says Ananya, adding that it was also an advice she received from dad Chunky Panday.

Daddy dearest also taught Ananya to take criticism in her stride, a feat that is difficult to cultivate for many actors as they are perpetually under public scrutiny.

“I think it comes naturally to me and has become a part of my personality. Dad and I are quite similar. We like that people around us like us and laugh with us. And sometimes [even] at our expense. I think I have developed that thick skin seeing my dad,” shares the actor, adding that there are days when jibes hurt her. “Sometimes, I don’t take a joke as well as I would have on any other day because I am only human. But being in the industry makes you grow stronger.”

In March, it was announced that Ananya Panday would make her web series debut with Call Me Bae. The slice-of-life comedy, backed by Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment, tells the story of a billionaire fashionista who is shunned by her family after she lands in a controversy. Now, we hear comedian-actor Vir Das is a part of the Collin D’Cunha-directed venture.

Sources say the stand-up comic was roped in late last year. “When scouting for the part, the director and creative minds behind the series wanted a sharp and funny guy. Vir was the instant choice. He was busy throughout 2022 with his comedy shows, but on returning to India this year, he shot for the series in a straight schedule from early January to February-end,” says a source, adding that Das’s role is being kept under wraps as it is integral to the narrative.

The Amazon Prime Video offering, which also features Gurfateh Pirzada, is expected to stream by the year-end.

It is well known by now that actor Ananya Panday will star in a long-form series titled Call Me Bae. However, from what we have heard, she will be romancing not one but four guys in that series. And one of them happens to be reality TV star Varun Sood.

A source close to the production house states, “Varun plays a gym trainer in the series. This is supposed to be Varun’s big-ticket project. Several actors auditioned for this part; however, it was Varun who landed this character. He will soon sign the dotted line.”

This won’t be Sood’s digital debut, as he was previously seen the 2017 web series in Ragini MMS Returns, and on the big screen, he starred in JugJugg Jeeyo.

While the search for the other guys continues, we have learnt that the team approached actor-jewellery designer Neelam Kothari Soni to play Panday’s on screen mother, but she apparently declined! Interestingly, Soni is close friends with Panday’s mum, Bhavana.

Meanwhile, a source clarifies: “She (Soni) didn’t say it in so many words that she doesn’t want to play a mother, but we all are assuming that is the reason. We’re currently looking for additional actors.”

And when we reached out to Soni, she had another story to share: “Things are at a very preliminary stage. I’ve not even read the script yet. All I know is that I’ve been offered to play Ananya’s mother. I’ve not accepted or denied it yet. It would be amazing to play her (on screen) mum.”

Sood, on the other hand, denied commenting on the matter.