Ananya Pandey’s ‘Call Me Bae’ and Uorfi Javed’s ‘Follow Kar Lo Yaar’: Anyone can be a star

While Ananya’s career has followed a path similar to other star kids such as Sara Ali Khan and Janhvi Kapoor, Uorfi has created a space for herself in the entertainment industry with her spunk and inventiveness. Initially frowned at when spotted in her outlandish outfits near Mumbai’s airports, she eventually managed to draw praise for her out-of-the-box outfits and being able to carry them off. Her career is built on creating viral moments during “celeb spotting” by paparazzi, which in reality is a well-planned PR strategy employed by many to stay relevant. Spurred on by the recognition and social media following she has received, she now harbours the ultimate dream of achieving “Shah Rukh Khan-level” fame.

Centred around Uorfi, the nine-episode Follow Kar Lo Yaar explores her everyday life and dynamic with family members. Despite her insecurities, what shines through is her ambition — which ranges from her wish to undergo breast augmentation surgery to owning a private jet. When we meet Uorfi on the show — which is undoubtedly inspired by Keeping Up with the Kardashians — she is fixated on becoming an entrepreneur, boosting her brand and getting extremely rich. One might assume she is being delulu, but she articulates what most “influencers” and other new-age celebrities dream of.

India has witnessed a considerable rise in the number of “celebrities”, who, powered by the internet’s extensive reach and proliferation of digital platforms, started as digital content creators or influencers. The measure of their success often depends on how many millions of followers they have and the number of collaborations they attract. While being “popular” can be an added advantage, ultimately it’s the number of their followers, likes on their posts, and views of their reels that matter the most. Despite being the brand ambassador of multiple major brands and a film star, Ananya still needs to boost her social media connection with the masses as much as Uorfi does. This connection is the reason behind Shraddha Kapoor — known for her girl-next-door image and relatable posts — becoming the second-most followed Indian on Instagram.

In Follow Kar Lo Yaar, Uorfi, in the same breath, proclaims that she wants to be extremely rich and respected — something that was denied to her in the early years of her life. Yet, she is quite comfortable sparking a controversy. She knows well that her career is built on the shock and curiosity she creates with her appearances, and, at times with her statements. While the on-the-fly style of documenting Uorfi’s life in real-time, may be exhausting in parts and the family fights repetitive, Follow Kar Lo Yaar does manage to capture the ordeals and oddities that those chasing fame and fortune go through.

Though these two web series belong to different genres, there is a surreal overlap between Uorfi’s outsider-to-internet sensation and Call Me Bae’s heiress-to-hustler narrative. What are the odds that both these stories unfold in Mumbai, a city that swears by jugaad and is known as the destination of those seeking glory in showbiz? The promotional says Bae is “broke, but refusing to be broken”. This is probably true of many young people in India dreaming big.

alaka.sahni@expressindia.com