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Like its protagonist Bella Chowdhary, Call Me Bae has had a journey of its own. Its origins began in 2018 when Karan Johar was toying with the idea of a spin-off show on Kareena Kapoor’s iconic character of Poo from his 2001 blockbuster Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Somen Mishra, head of Dharmatic Entertainment, the digital wing of Karan’s Dharma Productions, called out to budding women writers on his Facebook profile, and a certain Ishita Moitra reached out to him and was finalised after a screening of her work samples.
(Also Read – Call Me Bae review: Ananya Panday is pitch-perfect in her unapologetically breezy, decidedly sanitised series debut)
“She knew Poo in and out, all dialogues. She can quote it verbatim. Ask her,” Somen tells us. But the Poo project couldn’t materialise after Kareena got pregnant in 2020. It was subsequently rewritten for a younger protagonist and eventually, Ananya Panday came on board as Bae. In an exclusive interview, Ishita talks to Hindustan Times about how she shaped the show, crafting the men in the world of Bae, and the running thread of ‘behencode.’
So, how did Poo become Bae?
Like all great things, this too circles back to Karan. So initially, Karan had an idea – what if Poo becomes Poor? And the first ever concept note I wrote on this show was called – POO-R! Later as things evolved, Karan, Somen and I decided that the show would possibly work better as a young adult series with a younger protagonist navigating the ways of the world, a new city, a new job, the dilemmas of love, friendship and essentially her finding her inner gold. And thus, Bae was born.
Karan said at the trailer launch that Bae could’ve been the daughter of Poo. How did you ensure that there’s no Poo hangover and Bae is a person of her own?
She is definitely a part of the Poo universe, with her spunk, her one liners, her fashion goals, and her affirmations. However, Bae is also her own person, we tried to embue her with a lot of empathy, kindness, a rare awareness of her privilege, the ability to acknowledge one’s mistakes . Also, the language we gave her is very today and we hope it’ll make her stand out as an assured young woman of 2024.
Karan signed you on for his directorial Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani after your work on Call Me Bae. Though from different parts of Delhi, Bae and Rocky Randhawa have a lot in common. Do you see any similarities there?
Yes, when you point it out, I do see that both have their hearts in the right place, both are “dildaar – yaaron ke yaar”, both are judged by the world at large and both are able to surprise them in the end. However, they are also very different, Bae is extremely polished and woke and will think 10 times before labelling someone, she’ll probably check their pronouns before addressing them. Rocky is entirely the opposite of that.
From your personal experience, how do you decipher South Delhi girls like Bae? What is it about them that the world gets wrong?
I don’t think it’s about South Delhi girls or South Mumbai girls. It’s actually about how quick we are to judge people in today’s world. Everyone has their struggles, whether it’s the watchman, the petty thief or Bae. So, I feel with the show, we are trying to make an ardent appeal to everyone to make the world a kinder place for each other. Life is tough anyways.
Vir Das as Satyajit Sen may be the perfect modern-day villain. How did you come up with that character?
Casting him was a masterstroke and all credit to Collin (D’Cunha), our director and Panchmi Ghavri, our casting director, for making Vir our SS. We in the writers room (Samina Motlekar, Rohit Nair, and I) always wanted SS to have a balance of evil and humour. It’s a thin line to walk and it’s just great to see how Vir has dug into this part. It’s an absolutely stellar performance. I love every scene with him in it.
‘Behencode’ is at the heart of this show. What did you want to underline through this running thread of sisterhood?
For me, Behencode is an answer to the bro code. It’s when women prop each other up and fix each other’s crowns. And hence, we have subverted a gaali about women into a term used for sisterhood. When the behens come together, they can run the world.
How did you maintain the tonal consistency of not only Bae, but also the show as a whole? That there’s fun and forth, yet there’s also some growth.
Our whole job as writers to ensure that the characters remain themselves and yet grow and evolve. And you see that evolution in subtle ways, the bits of them that don’t work for them change slowly and not abruptly and the bits that you love, remain deeply entrenched in them. Sometimes, we are able to achieve this. Sometimes not. But this is always the goal.
How would you rate the three men who are after Bae on the green flag scale? Prince, Agastya and Neel.
Neel and Prince are both full of green flag energy. They are supportive, sensitive, kind, intelligent men who believe in consent. I guess Aggy is a more real character. However, he too is not a red flag, but a green flag because as you see in the show eventually, he too is able to have a hard look in the mirror and turn around. The only huge red flag is SS.
Even though it gets tough for Bae, the show remains decidedly sanitized. Losttel is a dream hostel, and landing a job in journalism through a viral Reel is straight out of a fairy tale book. Did you ever fear that this may come across as unrelatable or exaggerated?
The idea was it to be a binge-worthy escapist, fairy tale (like you rightly said) comedy drama that has an uplifting narrative. Comedy is always born out of exaggerating an observation. The setting is definitely unrelatable as it’s highly aspirational. However, the emotions are all very relatable.
Finally, I believe Four More Shots Please! helped you walk so you could run with Rocky Aur Rani and Bae. How did working on that show shape you as a screenwriter?
You are absolutely right. That show made me realise that there is space for stories like these and when it was nominated for an International Emmy, it made me understand that the world needs stories where women come together. Because those four flawed women walked, Bae could be flawsome!
Call Me Bae is streaming on Prime Video India.
