It’s campy, crazy, corny and even callous. But it’s entertaining! And the title, so well thought-of, is explained summarily in the last episode. Believe it or nuts, not only does the title fit but was probably irreplaceable. Nothing else would have matched a story with this whopper and completely unexpected twist in the ‘tail’ (end) of this superbly conceived show.
Yes, I wanted to give it a very high rating for its creative ingenuity, absolutely terrific lines (dialogues) and one-liners, all the self-parodies on the film industry, the smart casting of everyone from leads, support and cameos (as themselves, headed by Karan Johar and director-co-writer Aryan Khan’s dad, Shah Rukh Khan) and the general GenZee energy of the series. So, what happened that compelled me to allot a lower rating?
Quite simply, it is the overdose of expletives, which are used, especially the ‘F’ word. To be sure, I know that such words are endemic in the censor-free domain of web series (we now see the ‘F’ word in use in movies as well, check Kesari 2), but this time, the description ‘overdose’ is tepid! Everyone utters the ‘F’ word to everyone else: spouses to each other, offspring to parents and vice-versa and so on. And the series would not have lost even a tiny whit of its charm had the word and other vituperations been avoided or at least been sparsely used when really needed!
That said, Aryan is easily the most accomplished (though not as actor) Nepo (I hate that pointless word used in cinema)-kid after Janhvi Kapoor, Ananya Pandey and Junaid Khan in the post-Alia Bhatt-Varun Dhawan generation. Aryan is so individualistic and totally innovative as a director, and scores as co-writer as well.
His triumph is threefold: Aryan turns normal cliches on their heads (like Emraan Hashmi, noted as the ‘serial kisser’ in his early times, becoming an ‘intimacy coordinator’!), amalgamates them shrewdly in original form (a rich girl-not-so-rich boy romance and her tyrannical father) or comes up with screwball original ideas (like the egoistic producer kicking his audacious production designer in the stomach for a deliciously corny reason—“Main ladkiyon pe haath nahin uthaata!”—as he does not raise his hand on women, and the spin Lakshya gives to it!
Masturbation, near-incest, extreme egoism (Shah Rukh Khan at his ludicrous worst as an actor furious with criticism and Karan Johar at his pompous best), the fetish for drugs (Aryan’s own battle with the Narcotics Control Bureau in self-mocking mode) all mix with a reigning top star’s complete self-centeredness. We also have a look at a has-been actor, a producer desperate to hang on to his and his forefathers’ glories (shades of Jubilee come in, most likely unintentionally), the real mafia that controlled Hindi cinema in one era, complete with making a star do a film to launch a gangster’s daughter, the selfish and cocky celeb journalist, a struggling chorus dancer, a wannabe singer and more.
All these are amalgamated with industry politics, film awards, ‘roundtable’ meets and normal templates like the wrong man for a girl, the father who needs expensive surgery to survive, the doughty star-manager who refuses a top star’s job because she believes in loyalty and friendship, and more. Social media also comes in (check Ranveer Singh’s cameo).
In short, much more than everything is crammed (and juxtaposed well) into the variably lengthy seven episodes. The starting point is simply the story of a Delhi boy, Aasmaan (Lakshya) who dreams of stardom (a la Shah Rukh himself) but will draw the line somewhere except when cornered. He falls in love with ‘Nepo-kid’, Karishma Talvar (Sahher Bambba, rediscovered after her lost debut in the Sunny Deol-directed calamity, Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas), which upsets the reigning superstar—her dad Ajay Talvar (Bobby Deol).
The girl, already engaged to someone who is the wrong man for her, the rich Sameer (Armaan Khera), defies all to elope with her choice of man. And all hell and fury break loose, with a classically shot ‘chase’, and a DDLJ moment as they are about to sign their marriage document. Then comes a tribute to SRK and Amitabh Bachchan from Mohabattein, the use of Ajay Talvar’s song from an old hit and the follow-up shocks galore for the viewer and the characters.
Technically upscale, with music to match, The Ba***ds of Bollywood goes higher with its performances. Make no mistake when I make that statement: characters ham or go over-the-top intentionally as well, like Bobby himself, Manish Chaudhari as Freddy, Pranay Manchanda as the celebrity journalist, and SRK and even Karan Johar, as already mentioned. The various actors playing gangsters (Sant Ranjan, Akkshay Gunaawat, Sanjay Dadhich and Bhupindder Bhoopii) and Rajat Bedi as Jaraz Saxena, the frustrated has-been, are amusing and impressive.
Arshad Warsi as Gafoorbhai is brilliant. Anya Singh as Aasmaan’s manager, Manoj Pahwa as his uncle, Mona Singh as Aasmaan’s mother, Raghav Juyal as Parvaiz, Vijayant Kohli (who excels) as Aasmaan’s father and Divik Sharma as Ajay’s son are magnificent in their roles. As Jeejeebhoy, real-life Parsi Meherzan Mazda makes a solid mark as well.
Whether you love Hindi cinema, despise it or are apathetic to it, you simply have to watch this one. Not for SRK, not for his ‘Nepo-kid’, but for its merits and twisted (literally!) look at entertainment.
Rating: ****
Netflix presents Red Chillies Entertainment’s The Ba***ds of Bollywood Producer: Gauri Khan Directed by: Aryan Khan Written by: Aryan Khan, Bilal Siddiqui & Manav Chauhan Music: Shashwat Sachdev, Ujwal Gupta & Anirudh Ravichander Starring: Lakshya, Raghav Juyal, Sahher Bambba, Bobby Deol, Arshad Warsi, Anya Singh, Manoj Pahwa, Mona Singh, Vijayant Kohli, Karan Johar, Divik Sharma, Gautami Kapoor, Rajat Bedi, Manish Chaudhari, Pranay Manchanda, Eshika Dey, Sant Ranjan, Akkshay Gunaawat, Sanjay Dadhich, Bhupindder Bhoopii & others
