The Ba***ds of Bollywood

The Ba***ds of Bollywood — the name itself has been causing non-stop buzz because it taps into current public perception of how the Hindi film industry is full of baxxds — is a mixed bag. The problem, in fact, is in the name itself. When ba***dly behaviour is on full display, we feel that promises have been kept, and that it is not just calling its detractors out by putting itself out there, but having some fun at our expense while it’s at it; it’s when the seven-part series segues into the showing us ‘the other side’, that it deflates into seen-before ordinariness. Watching glittering stars sending themselves up is always going to be a send. It never gets old, and we’re so here for it. Aamir, Shah Rukh (a no-brainer, given he is the debutant director Aryan Khan’s proud daddy-o), for pan-Indian appeal, SS Rajamouli, Ranbir Kapoor, Ranvir Singh, Rajummar Rao, Arjun Kapoor, and of course, Karan Johar, who is not just a cameo like the others but a full-fledged presence: who better than Johar to personify the much-reviled movie mafia which ‘buys paps’ and warns people not to ‘cross them’. Salman is a blink-and-miss even as cameos go, and him muttering about not wanting to a be a dad is sort of hilarious, in this whole parade of daddies. It’s all nudge-and-wink, and smile-worthy.

For someone who rarely (if at all) cracks a smile, Aryan Khan does have a wicked sense of humour. Swinging wildly between spoof, satire, self-referential and self-awareness is Shah Rukh Khan’s son’s directorial debut The Ba***ds of Bollywood. Playing out over seven episodes, this Netflix series is a cheeky, and in parts courageous, look at the bad, mad, rad world of Hindi cinema that the 27-year-old Khan scion has grown up in. The workings of Bollywood, including what transpires on its fringes, has been explored and presented in various ways in the past. More recent examples include the incisive ticking time-bomb approach of Zoya Akhtar’s excellent debut film Luck By Chance, and the historically sweeping semi-biographical treatment adopted by Vikramaditya Motwane in his immensely watchable web series Jubilee. The Ba***ds of Bollywood — while borrowing a bit from both and others in the genre — takes the informed decision of veering more towards Farah Khan’s wildly entertaining Om Shanti Om, a film headlined by SRK, that both spoofed Bollywood and celebrated it.

Not-so-sharp but daringly self-aware, The Ba***ds of Bollywood* (short for Bastards of Bollywood) is less of a scathing satire and more of an edgy, meta love letter to the film industry. At its heart, it’s a forbidden love story between an outsider and a nepo kid, building towards an unhinged, glorious climax that fully justifies the show’s title. It may just be one of the boldest creative swings Bollywood has seen in recent memory. The seven-part series follows Aasmaan, a promising newcomer whose debut hit doesn’t guarantee an easy ride. He’s soon entangled in the murky politics of the industry—dodging shady contracts, tiptoeing around egoistic producers, managing superstar tantrums, tackling pesky paparazzi, and fending off competition from privileged insiders. Things only get more complicated when he grows close to his co-star, Karishma Talvar (Sahher Bambba), daughter of megastar Ajay Talvar (Bobby Deol). Ajay has his eyes set on a bigger launchpad for Karishma—preferably opposite someone like Ranveer Singh and not some rising outsider. When Aasmaan refuses to play by the industry’s unspoken rules, things spiral fast.

बॉलिवुड के बादशाह शाहरुख खान के बेटे आर्यन खान की डायरेक्टोरियल डेब्यू वेब सीरीज ‘द बैड्स ऑफ बॉलिवुड’ जब से अनाउंस हुई है, तभी से लोगों को उसका इंतजार था। अब यह सीरीज आ चुकी है और कहना गलत न होगा कि आर्यन ने पर्दे के पीछे से धमाकेदार एंट्री मारी है। उनकी यह सीरीज नेपोटिजम, इनसाइडर-आउटसाइडर, ड्रग्स, मूवी माफिया, कॉन्ट्रैक्ट कल्चर, पावर के खेल जैसे उन सारे मुद्दों को पूरी साफगोई से दिखाती है, जिसके लिए बॉलिवुड जाना जाता है या यूं कहिए कि बदनाम है। बिलाल सिद्दीकी और मानव चौहान के साथ मिलकर लिखी इस सीरीज के लिए आर्यन ने बॉलिवुड की उसी दुनिया को चुना है, जहां वे जन्मे और पले-बढ़े। वैसे, देखा जाए तो कहानी कोई बहुत अलहदा किस्म की नहीं है। देखी-दिखाई-सुनी-सुनाई सी लगती है, लेकिन इसी वजह से एक रिलेटेबिलिटी फैक्टर महसूस होता है।