The Ba***ds of Bollywood is a wildly entertaining journey of an ambitious outsider labouring through the glitzy, deceptive corridors of Bollywood that is packed with sarcasm, cheeky cameos and flamboyant characters… An ode to Indian cinema.
The title that looks odd as it started as Bads of Bollywood ended in Bastards of Bollywood that being the turning point of this whole show on OTT a clever nuance added for more intrigue. Weilding the baton in his debut series is Aryan Khan son of King Khan (SRK ) which is now showing on Netflix , a 7 part series with each episode clocking 50 odd minutes.
The series is about what goes on behind the scenes in Bollywood, its functioning, the machination of the Bollywood hoi-poloi specially the people on top with power, like the top rated actors, producers and directors.
So in a way it is an internalization of itself by a Bollywood debutant, to be fair, to Aryan, the series The Ba****ds of Bollywood does keep you interested, it has been shot on a good scale and budget and that could be its saving grace. Otherwise there are many negatives that we can talk about here. And yes controversial topics like casting couch and drugs are strictly not dealt here or there may be a passing reference however nepotism is shown in a slick manner. There are also references to binding contracts with which a newcomer unwittingly fritters away the independence of working in various projects of his choice.
The Ba****ds of Bollywood is a story about the entry of a newcomer in Bollywood badlands– Aasmaan Singh (Lakshya) whose first film is a hit but that doesn’t cut much ice with the who’s who here and he has to go through a lot of struggles to get his next film. He then signs a movie with filmmaker Karan Johar, alongside Karishma Talwar (Sahher Bamba), daughter of superstar Ajay Talwar (Bobby Deol).
Newcomer boy Lakshya is confident as a hero, if he selects good projects could be a rising star, but I don’t see him going a long distance in this Bollywood race, however he can bring a lot on the table if he sticks to OTT platform for quality projects. As regards the heroine, she does not impress initially, but as the series progresses she does make an impression with her acting.
Manish Choudhary as Freddy Sodawalla was good as he usually is. Rajat Bedi makes a come back, and in fact there are many faces which make a come back in this series like Mona Singh in a meaty role after a hiatus, then there is Aasman’s father (Vijayant Kohli) a non familiar face whom we have seen in bit roles here and there has been offered a good part.
Manoj Pahwa is what he does best i.e. giving a Punjabi tadka to the goings on, however the most dominant and impressive personality in the whole series was that of Bobby Deol who effortlessly plays his part of a Bolly superstar as well as a protective father of Karishma (Sahher Bambba). That proves apart from the movies Bobby has really made a niche for himself in OTT with his past record we can see how his career has shaped up recently. Gautami Kapoor as a sulking Bollywood wife is passable, we could have had a better pairing for Bobby. Another great performance comes from Raghav Juyal, as the hero’s sidekick and a ‘tapori’ with a big heart, and yes there are some likeable cameos by Imran Hashmi’s (he will be teaching Kamasutra next), Arshad Warsi, Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh and King Khan himself along with Suhana.
In the end one can say in The Ba****ds of Bollywood there is a lot of deja vu of Om Shanti Om as the premises were similar, watching the episodes I thought that I was watching an extension, however this one is slick in direction. So an out and out Bollywood masala about itself.
A sincere effort which can be improved in future we hope.
The Ba****ds of Bollywood is currently streaming on Netflix .
– Review by PAWAN GUPTA
Cast of The Ba***ds of Bollywood:
Bobby Deol – Ajay Talvar
Lakshya – Aasmaan Singh
Raghav Juyal – Parvaiz
Sahher Bambba – Karishma Talvar
Mona Singh – Neeta Singh
Anya Singh – Sanya
Manish Chaudhari – Freddy Sodawallah
Rajat Bedi – Jaraj Saxena
Manoj Pahwa – Avtar
Karan Johar – as Karan Johar
Vijayant Kohli – Rajat Singh
Meherzan Mazda – Jeejeebhoy
Bhupindder Bhoopii – Rafiq Bhai
Sanjay Dadhich – Abdul Bhai
Akkshay Gunaawat – Salim Bhai
Neville Barucha – DJ Adam
Sant Ranjan – Chhota Kashif
Eshika Dey – Pushpa
Credits of The Ba***ds of Bollywood:
Production company – Red Chillies Entertainment
Producer – Gauri Khan
Director – Aryan Khan
Executive producers – Bonnie Jain, Akshat Verma
Writers – Aryan Khan, Bilal Siddiqui, Manav Chauhan
Cinematographer – Jay Pinak Oza
Composers – Ujjwal Gupta, Anirudh Ravichander, Shashwat Sachdev
Editor Nitin Baid
Drama, Satire
