The Ba****ds of Bollywood - Nepotism meets Nihilism

The Ba****ds of Bollywood

Hindi - Comedy / Drama
7 episodes ~ 45 mins
Netflix

Quite a coincidence that I ended up watching two satires set in the movie industry back to back — The Studio (on Apple TV+) and The B*ds of Bollywood, created and directed by Aryan Khan.

Eighteen years ago, SRK (along with Farah Khan, of course) managed to bring the entire film industry together for the fabulously entertaining Om Shanti Om. With all the goodwill he has earned in Bollywood, it clearly was not too hard for SRK to pull it off once more — this time for Aryan’s directorial debut.

BoB is a seven-part series that has everything we know (and love to hate) about Bollywood — the stars (and their kids), their tantrums and vanity, the underworld, the paparazzi culture, all the gossip and everything Karan Johar!

Aasmaan (Lakshya), a Dilli da munda with no industry backing ( wink wink), delivers a masala blockbuster with producer Freddy Sodawalla (Manish Chaudhari). Freddy, thrilled with the success, offers Aasmaan a three-film contract (wink wink), which he signs. Sanya (Anya Singh), Aasmaan’s manager, smells a rat, while Parvaiz (Raghav Juyal), his best friend, is over the moon.

Sanya soon manages to land Aasmaan a role in the next Karan Johar film — which also happens to be the launchpad of Karishma Talvar (Sahher Bambba), daughter of reigning superstar Ajay Talvar (Bobby Deol). Ajay doesn’t want Aasmaan as the lead, and Freddy discovers Aasmaan is violating his contract. For entirely different reasons, both want the movie buried — but, of course, it still gets made. That is pretty much the central premise.

Much like a big-budget Bollywood movie, there are plenty of side characters adding their own tadka to this crazy biryani — Aasmaan’s uncle, a washed-up singer Avtar (Manoj Pahwa), his mother (Mona Singh), Ajay’s whacko son Shaumik, the ever-desperate Jaraj Saxena (Rajat Bedi, remember him?), and a mysterious mafia don named Gafoo.

The main cast performs quite well — Lakshya, Anya, and Sahher are confident and do a solid job (nice touch that these were not nepo castings!). Bobby Deol gets a meaty role and plays it with class. Manoj Pahwa has done this sort of part before, but he’s still good. Manish Chaudhari gets some of the best lines in the show and crushes them.

The real scene-stealer is Raghav Juyal, a proper Bollywood guy, overplaying his character in the best way possible, much like a full-throttle Ranveer Singh. The scene where he breaks into a famous 2000s song after spotting his favourite actor? Priceless. 

If deliberately done, it is also very bollywoodish that Lakshya and Raghav were at each other's throats in last year's Kill, while playing best buds in this one.

Written by Aryan Khan, Bilal Siddiqui, and Manav Chauhan, BoB is loaded with “meta” references — drug cases, nepotism debates, bash-ups at parties, studio takeovers and more — and a twist that lands pretty well. The gags range from sharp and clever to totally cringe, which feels ok in this satire.

Be warned: there is a LOT of swearing. It almost feels like every character was given a quota — even KJo cannot finish a sentence without dropping one. The only ones who do not, are the three Khans (already revealed in the trailer— I wonder why!). At first, the cussing feels gratuitous, but once the story kicks in, you just roll with it.

Overall, it’s quite a breezy watch — provided you’re in the “don’t take it seriously” zone. I did have my fast-forward mode on during the songs and a few draggy bits though. It is commendable that Aryan (and his co-writers) manage to craft a fun, self-aware satire, that features pretty much everyone we know — and yet, it does not rely only the starry cameos, well done!