As the highly anticipated Prime Video series Call Me Bae gears up for its premiere on September 6, 2024, leading star Ananya Panday, along with Niharika Lyra Dutt and Muskkaan Jaaferi, took a moment to reflect on the unsung heroes behind the success of a film or series. In an exclusive interview with OTTplay, we questioned the actors about their perspectives on credit allocation for successful films or series, a topic currently generating controversy in Bollywood due to the success of Stree 2 and the escalating fan wars between Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor.

Actors reflect on the collective effort behind success

In the interview, Ananya Panday emphasised the collective effort behind a successful production. “I think the most successful shows have been those cases where the credit does go to everyone, and it’s not just us actors, it’s the technicians, it’s the cinematographer, all the departments, the clothes, the makeup, the hair, the lightman—the success belongs to everyone. It’s very important that we actors also speak about every department involved, because I think the audience only sees actors, and they think that’s all that’s involved in filmmaking or making a series. But it’s not; it’s hundreds of people every single day who put their blood, sweat, and tears into making cinema. I think it’s important that we bring them out into focus as much as we can as well,” the actor stated.

Niharika agreed, noting the growing sophistication of audiences and explaining, "I feel like the audience is becoming more educated about things, and I feel like they’re watching content more from a very educated standpoint. So they’ll understand when editing is good and editing is bad. They’ll understand if a show has been shot really well or if it’s shot really badly. So I feel like now they’ve been able to dissect what works in a film and what doesn’t. And so when a show does well, I feel like I agree with Ananya when she says that they understand that everything came together to make this world come alive. And everything goes hand in hand."

Muskkaan also highlighted the importance of teamwork, saying, "I think the synergy, the credit, goes to the synergy of the entire cast and crew and the makers and the producers, because without them, we cannot make it. So it’s like, everybody, everything goes hand in hand."

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