There are movies that run on in depth analysis and make you introspect, after which there are others that do not have an oz. of practicality and make it to the viewers’s responsible pleasure watchlist. Prime Video’s newest authentic collection, Name Me Bae, falls into the latter class. It’s primarily the story of an uber-rich Bella “Bae” Chowdhary, who has been disowned by her household and is now attempting to restart her life from scratch in Mumbai.
Sounds acquainted? Nicely, that is as a result of we have now seen the storyline thousands and thousands of instances throughout genres. Name Me Bae closely borrows parts from comparable works accomplished prior to now, together with Schitt’s Creek, 2 Broke Women, and Sonam Kapoor’s Aisha. It will remind you of Kareena Kapoor Khan’s fashion-conscious Poo from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…, or Legally Bloonde’s sorority queen-turned-Harvard-educated-lawyer Reese Witherspoon on multiple event— the traditional trope of a seemingly air-headed woman who, seems, is a genius!
Storyline
Panday’s character is disowned by her uber-rich household after she is caught dishonest on her husband
If I have been to provide it straight, Name Me Bae falls according to typical high-school teenage dramas, which run excessive on delusion and at all times have pleased endings. Bear in mind how Hannah Montana fooled everybody with only a wig and Selena Gomez’s magic world in Wizards of Waverly Place? The one distinction right here is that this Amazon Authentic is about in present instances, and in contrast to earlier works, it extensively incorporates the omnipresent world of social media – and, in fact, a better finances.
Name Me Bae begins with Ananya Panday’s uber-rich Bella “Bae” Chowdhary being thrown out of her Delhi mansion in drenching rain. Used to being flown in choppers, heading to Rome for pizza, or gifting cricket groups to family members, she is now doomed. With none of her family and friends prepared to assist, it is simply her and her Gucci suitcases, stuffed with thousands and thousands of {dollars}’ price of outfits and equipment, in opposition to the world now. Decided to show her destiny round, our protagonist decides to rebuild her life from scratch, in Mumbai. Throughout the following seven episodes, we see her attempting to regulate to a brand new actuality and rewrite her life story. Evidently, she succeeds, sticking to the fairy story format of the present!
The princess-turned-pauper experiences numerous firsts: staying in a hostel, cleansing up after herself, consuming white bread which she thought had gone extinct, and experiencing a roof leakage. She boards an auto-rikshaw for the primary time and goes on to label it as a breezier model of Mini Coopers: a comparability I’m going to feed my anxious mind each time month-to-month budgets lay low.
Even when she misses her earlier life and worries concerning the future, she offers her new life an trustworthy likelihood and stays optimistic. The very best half? She would not ditch away her generosity, kindness, and religion in humanity. She’d provide you with second possibilities, battle in your friendship, and name a spade for a spade.
Name Me Bae is stuffed with witty popular culture references and bling
Bae’s character has been written to drag you from the slap-in-the-face actuality of the world and restore your religion within the little good left on this planet.
Though, if there have been a debate on the collection, numerous theorists may recommend that on some degree, Bae at all times knew her household would in the end have her again, and she or he is on her strategy to get pleasure from pseudo-poverty, an idea the place the rich ditch their luxuries briefly to have a brand new expertise of how regular individuals stay; for sheer leisure or a self-discovery facade. Nicely, in case you’re anticipating practicality in a Karan Johar manufacturing, that is on you.
As at all times, Johar has added fairly a cinematic extravagance, and every little thing is conveniently falling into place for our protagonist. However, the collection made me smile a number of instances. Generally, a reminder of how good issues can flip served with a aspect of hope is simply what we’d like, and Panday’s collection did it for me. From her behen code (the sister code that makes you prioritise your feminine mates) to a easy acknowledgement of being a flawed human and but deserving good issues, these uplifting tropes felt reassuring.
Though had the present been even barely linked with actuality, issues would have gone horribly incorrect for our damsel. In a tanking financial state of affairs the place individuals are sticking to their poisonous jobs due to a crashed market, Bae is getting a well-paid internship at a prestigious information channel. That too when her resume is only a compilation of eccentric programs like the best way to talk along with your spirit animal, psychic vegan cheese and wine pairing, moral emerald jewelry design, cyberfeminism, the best way to change the world one tweet at a time, underwater basket weaving – the record goes on. If solely we might change to this universe!
Ananya Panday’s Bae has accomplished loads of quirky programs within the present corresponding to “the best way to change the world one tweet at a time”
To enchantment to the Instagram-addicted younger viewers, Name Me Bae floods the viewers with popular culture references that may not curiosity somebody not conversant in them. However if you’re up to date with the most recent traits that catch the flowery of the youth, be up for an amusing stretch of streaming.
There are references to Jay-Z-Beyonce’s rumoured break up, Jimmy Kimmel’s post-Oscars events, and even Fifty Shades of Grey. Panday even quotes Joey Tribbinani’s widespread dialogue from the American sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S: A second in your lips, perpetually on the hips. Most likely, for this reason Prime Video has particularly categorised the present for the “younger grownup viewers”.
Anyway. I used to be significantly impressed by how the present skillfully captured the essence of social media in a playful and relatable manner, successfully conveying its pervasive presence in our lives. Each time a personality posts on-line, small emojis fly on our display, and their Google searches are proven with a particular pop-up, making the characters’ on-line experiences really feel intimately acquainted. The enhancing right here is kind of spectacular. Panday’s Netflix movie, Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, which revolved extensively on the topic, had additionally excelled within the illustration.
Nevertheless, Name Me Bae is not nearly jaw-dropping style selections, social media, and popular culture. It barely touches upon delicate topics like loneliness and the influence of childhood neglect. Not an awesome job there, although. Whereas the ache of her beforehand golden-caged life resonates nicely throughout the screens, the seriousness of the difficulty is criminally undermined. The lukewarm illustration shies away from the darkish features and fails to acknowledge it as a doubtlessly life-threatening subject.
We see the in any other case bubbly Bae teary and speaking to her purses – whom she has named – and hanging onto each alternative to speak to a different human, even when s/he’s a homeless felony in jail. She strives for the validation of strangers on the Web by posting even the tiniest updates of her life on-line. However that is all. And oh, by the way in which, she has accomplished loads of eccentric programs too: the best way to talk along with your spirit animal, psychic vegan cheese and wine pairing, moral emerald jewelry design, the best way to change the world one tweet at a time, underwater basket weaving – the record goes on. Nevertheless, Johar’s collection refrains from overlaying a lot darker features of loneliness, choosing a a lot lukewarm illustration of the intense subject.
Characters
As per Karan Johar, Ananya Panday’s Bae is the modern-day equal of Poo from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham
Though, the collection does take a severe dig at modern journalism, particularly tv journalism. The message is loud and clear: precise journalism is on the verge of extinction. We see proficient journalists not being allowed to take up precise tales of substance – just because they do not have a sensational angle to them. There’s a junior reporter dressing up as leopards and ghosts for a present as an alternative of doing one thing fruitful. What a metaphorical illustration of the circus that some information channels have lowered to as we speak! There may be even {a magazine} cowl with a blurb that reads, “What to put on once you’re caught dishonest”. Christ!
Slapstick comedian Vir Das right here shines as a narcissistic journalist who believes the nation is a “beast” eager to feed on sensationalism. He would shamelessly disclose individuals’s private lives on nationwide tv and enlarge irrelevant info in his studies so as to add the spice. For him Pakistan spells D-R-A-M-A and workplace apparel features a lux coat and a boxer. (Any individual, please remind him that the work-from-home days are over, and it isn’t a mid-day Zoom assembly.) A budget information tickers in his speak present learn “Our reality is healthier than your reality” and “This subject wants a tissue”.
In a scene, he shouts, “Mujhe medicine do” [give me drugs] whereas alleging a wrestler of being doped earlier than a match. Reminded of somebody? Nicely, we have now particular journalists who love harassing individuals on their exhibits within the title of the nation eager to know. Should not be that onerous to guess. Das’ satirical portrayal is on level.
Contrarily, Das has by no means been shy about voicing his opinion on the rotting political state of the nation and the horrendous function of unethical journalists fueling the decay, in actual life. He appears to have discovered the right manner of channelling his frustration by means of his character in Name Me Bae, particularly after he was banned beforehand from sure states in India for his supposed anti-nation sentiments in a Netflix Comedy Special for which he later received an Emmy.
The collection additionally has a quick cameo by impartial journalist Faye Desouza, who’s seen giving heartful recommendation to severe journalists ditching tv in the event that they need to make an precise distinction. Dsouza, too, is thought for being brutally trustworthy concerning the barbaric decay of journalistic ethics, and her temporary stint within the present makes excellent sense.
Name Me Bae Evaluate: Verdict
Name Me Bae fares nicely as a feel-good collection the place practicality is changed by fairy-tale model of life
Ananya Panday’s collection may not break new floor or dive deep into advanced themes. The truth is, it’s predictable, tacky, and overstuffed with plotholes that’ll make you sigh. Acknowledged. However that is precisely what makes it a enjoyable, senseless watch. Name Me Bae’s tone is overly enthusiastic, unrealistically optimistic, and completely dreamy, identical to its delusional protagonist. It is a present that you just flip to once you need your mind cells to relaxation and feed on senseless comedy. Do not count on a cerebral or visceral expertise; Name Me Bae by no means promised to be one. We’ve loads of these movies and exhibits already.
Name Me Bae is a fantasy world the place every little thing falls into place, and our protagonist finds overly supportive strangers who change into her finest mates in a surprisingly brief span of time. It is a Karan Johar-esque romp, borrowing one of the best bits from his earlier works. Whereas it is no cinematic masterpiece, Name Me Bae has its distinctive beat. It is a quirky, delusional, and endearingly optimistic story that creates a bubble of its personal.
Score: 8/10
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