Nepo Grande:
A star daughter asks for sugar and a spoon with her coffee, an ‘outsider’ newbie comments, “You already have a spoon… a silver spoon.”
Aryan Khan who has directed and written (with Bilal Siddiqui and Manav Chauhan), the web series, The B***ds of Bollywood, (while saying the title out loud, the cuss word is clear), is obviously taking a dig at himself too, while making fun of a nepo kid. Because he already has dad Shah Rukh Khan’s clout, in the first two episodes of the show, he has stars making red carpet appearances, Karan Johar and Ranveer Singh play long-ish parts, Aamir Khan and SS Rajamouli have a gag scene. And an actor gets picked up by the cops for drug use!
Think of Luck by Chance, Om Shanti Om, or the web series Showtime, and Aryan Khan’s show is not saying anything new, at least in the first two episodes. Those who do not know the inside workings of the film industry, probably think this is what it’s like. Even with evidence to the contrary, in the series, an unknown from Delhi, Aasmaan (Lakshya) is given a break in a film that turns out to be a hit. The show opens with him doing a dangerous action sequence, when the stuntman gets injured on set. The action scene is deliberately shot in the nonsensical over the top style of commercial Bollywood movies—parodying or paying tribute? Depends on who’s watching.
A producer, Freddy Sodawallah (Manish Chaudhari) with an ego so large that he has his name written like the Hollywood sign in LA, then signs Aasmaan up for watertight a three-film deal, with he agrees to without consulting with his manager Sanya (Anya Singh). Later, an actor (Rajat Bedi), whose career was wrecked by a vengeful Freddy, for just meeting another producer, is seen as a cautionary tale of failure in Bollywood.
Aasmaan and his friend Parvaiz (Raghav Juyal) live in a working class neighbourhood, and his new found stardom means he can better the lives of his parents (Mona Singh, Vijaykant Kohli). His mother used to be a back-up dancer and his uncle Avtar (Manoj Pahwa) still struggles as a singer, and is bitter about the industry. He is the one who calls the industry “har**mi” which gives the show its title.
At the party where Aasmaan signs the contract there are other deals being made and broken, like Ranveer Singh pretending to have fractured his leg to get out of a film with Karan Johar, because he has a better deal with a Southern banner. Johar, dressed in a shimmering jacket, snubs Sanya when she tries to get him to take a look at Aasman. However, after his caustic comments are heard in a newcomers’ roundtable, with a lisping movie critic (Pranay Manchanda), where he lampoons Karishma (Sahher Bamba), daughter of superstar Ajay Talvar (Bobby Deol, styled like Shah Rukh Khan), Karan offers him a film opposite Karishma, but there is the Freddy contract coming in the way.
Even though The Ba***ds of Bollywood has ‘types’ rather than real looking or sounding characters, Aryan Khan has made it entertaining and wicked. The darkness is also tinged with comedy, and the celebs who appear in it have no qualms in making themselves the target of Khan’s humour. Karan Johar’s self aggrandizement, or the scene between Rajamouli and Aamir Khan are chuckle worthy. Freddy’s oppressed sidekick Jeejeebhoy (Meherzan Mazda) is hilarious, and the kind of worm who is just so ready for turning!
There was hope that Aryan Khan would have some unknown insights of offer—after all he has had a ringside view of the industry, there was no reason for him to skim the surface, or even try to gild the lily. But this one is more grandeur and kitsch than a reality check.
(This piece first appeared in rediff.com)
