Ananya Panday Says She Didn't Try To Replicate Kareena Kapoor's 'Poo' In Call Me Bae: 'What Bebo Did Is...'

Kareena Kapoor’s ‘Poo’ from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham is one of the most iconic characters in her filmography and is often referenced in films today. Ahead of Ananya Panday’s Call Me Bae, Karan Johar called her character ‘Poo’s daughter’ and called her a Gen Z version of the character. However, Ananya claims that she did not try to touch Poo due to her legacy.

Ananya Panday told Instant Bollywood: ‘I don’t think we are trying at all to touch or even come close to what Bebo (Kareena Kapoor) did because she is the literal icon and the queen. What she did was just a legacy. What she did was extraordinary. This is our homage to her. If Bae can be even one per cent as lovable as Poo, then I think we all will be happy.”

For the unversed, Karan Johar called Bae a “glorious Gen Z 2.0 derivative” of Poo. He said, “If Rohan and Pooja now would have had to have had a baby girl, she would be Bae. I’m just talking because she really is a glorious Gen Z 2.0 derivative of Poo. It’s like where Poo ends, Bae takes off.”

“That’s the best way that I can describe her because even when you saw the character of Poo, it started with all the fun and games and then, she contributes to the emotional gravitas of the ongoings in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham,” Karan Johar had said at the show’s trailer launch.

Call Me Bae follows Ananya as a South Delhi girl who, after losing everything, relocates to Mumbai and starts anew as a journalist. The series chronicles her journey through the journalism world while maintaining her distinct style. The cast includes Vihaan Samat, Varun Sood, Gurfateh Pirzada, Muskkaan Jaferi, and Niharika Dutt. Produced by Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment, the show offers a fresh narrative while paying respect to past cinematic icons.