Actor Ananya Panday, set to make her web series debut with ‘Call Me Bae’, says she wants to break out of her perceived image in the audience and industry, and that will happen when she is in a position to say no to offers that feed into a certain stereotype.

‘Call Me Bae’, directed by Collin D’Cunha and created by Ishita Moitra, sees Ananya’s Bae leading a privileged life in New Delhi, before she is disowned by her family. The eight-episode series will debut on Prime Video on September 6.

The actor, who made her debut with 2019’s rom-com ‘Student of the Year 2’, said “fighting perception” is a challenge that she continues to deal with as an individual, a PTI report from Mumbai said.

“When you start up with a certain kind of film, people put you in a box and they would expect the same thing from you.

“So, I’m fighting the perception of what the audience thinks of me and the kind of work you get within the industry. When something of yours does well, you get the same offers, and it is up to us as actors if we have that position where we can say no,” Ananya told PTI in an interview.

Sometimes saying no is more important than yes because that defines you as an actor and a person, she added.

“You can be scared that, ‘Oh this is such a big opportunity, what if I say no to this’. But then, in the long term, it does well because you are not feeding into a stereotype.

 “You are reinventing, challenging yourself and doing something different. All this might mean that you are missing out on something that seems big but actually, you are choosing growth over doing something similar,” she said.

‘Call Me Bae’ marks the web series debut for the 25-year-old, whose previous films such as ‘Gehraiyaan’ and ‘Kho Gaye Hum Kahan’ were direct-to-digital releases.

Ananya said playing Bae, a young woman who goes on riches to rags journey, was a “dream role” for her.

“They sent me eight episodes in a go, and when I read it, I felt, ‘I’m could die to be part of this’. As a character, there’s so much to do, so much to chew on. There are so many layers to the character.

“There’s a full journey, and the audience goes through everything with her. That was very exciting. But just not the character, even the story that it is. It is very light, fun and happy but there’s something that we are trying to say by the end of the show, there’s a big message there,” she added.

The actor said it took her some time to adjust to the set of ‘Call Me Bae’ after finishing work on Vikramaditya Motwane’s cyber thriller ‘CTRL’ and ‘Kho Gaye Hum Kahan’, a coming-of-age buddy drama directed by Arjun Varain Singh.

“This zone (OTT) excites me because everything we see is a little dark and heavy, and I miss eating and binge-watching something with my friends. I would like to bring light to people in these dark times (through the show),” Panday said.

‘Call Me Bae’ also features Vir Das, Gurfateh Pirzada, Varun Sood, Vihaan Samat, Muskkaan Jaferi, Niharika Lyra Dutt, Lisa Mishra, and Mini Mathur in pivotal roles.

The series is executive produced by Dharmatic Entertainment’s Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta, and Somen Mishra.