For what it’s worth, Seth Rogen in *The Studio* (2025, Apple TV) is, in his own way, a lot like Larry David. Consider the sixth episode of this sensational series, where Seth, playing the beta studio boss, finds himself stuck among serious doctors at a party—none of whom can fathom the significance of movies. But Seth is frickin’ obsessed! That passion holds true for blokes in Bollywood as well.
I try not to mix my friends from these two worlds. One group eventually gets bored through the damn evening.
Interestingly, Shah Rukh Khan’s (SRK) Red Chillies Entertainment produced a film that closely mirrors *Curb Your Enthusiasm* in tone: *Kaamyaab* (2019). It’s a sheer slice of showbiz low life, carried solely on the shoulders of the superb Sanjay Mishra, who plays a retired character actor remembered for one line: “Enjoying life. Aur option kya hai!”
What about SRK’s Red Chillies series for Netflix, *The B***ds of Bollywood* (read: *Bads of Bollywood*), set in Mumbai’s movie and entertainment industry? Sure, there’s a bit of *Curb Your Enthusiasm* and even an element of *Entourage*, but more so the filminess of Farah Khan (*Om Shanti Om*), combined with the edginess and empathy of Zoya Akhtar (*Luck By Chance*).
Yet, it stands tall as a full-on fun take on films and filmies—completely silly, unpretentious, and entertaining in its own right. The show often switches and plays with genres, but mostly stays within the realm of over-the-top humour.
Pulling off a Hindi cinema setting on screen is tough, as many shows end up unbearably superficial (*Call My Agent: Bollywood*) or simply a spoof of a spoof (the Emraan Hashmi-starring *Showtime*).
What I first loved about *Bads of Bollywood* is that it’s not about a tragic struggler—a term usually applied to aspiring actors. Nor is it focused on the boring inner workings of the movie industry, which no lay viewer really cares about. And frankly, aren’t you tired of hearing famous actors’ sob stories about how they once eked out a living, skipping meals and sleeping on pavements, presumably for a larger social purpose? They were chasing a personal dream—so what? Or how they faced (fair or unfair) rejections, as if the world owes an aspiring actor more than a broke telemarketer.
*Bads of Bollywood* opens with its protagonist, Lakshya Lalwani, already a star—a debutant from Delhi in Mumbai, with obvious parallels to SRK himself. He steps into a single-screen theatre to watch his first film, only to exit with the public tearing his clothes off—that’s straight out of Hrithik Roshan’s life.
What follows is a story of how you never really make it. The struggles continue, only the stakes differ as life takes over.
The hero and heroine (Sahher Bambba) first meet at an actors’ roundtable (think Siddhant Chaturvedi), then again at the duty-free shop of a domestic airport. The hero’s jobless best friend (Raghav Juyal), mother (Mona Singh), uncle (Manoj Pahwa), and girlfriend’s father (Bobby Deol) all play their parts seriously. Unlike caricatures typical of comedies, *Bads* offers what feels like a mainstream, retro Bollywood picture—but with Bollywood as the setting and culture of its own.
Bollywood is more liberal than the rest of India, less dull than any day-job, filled with professional daredevils without a Plan B, and packed with internal politics and external targeting.
The commentary here feels a bit like stock market tips: it’s not so much about what’s being said, but who’s saying it.
Adding a layer of unique meta-humour is the fact that *Bads of Bollywood* was co-created by SRK’s son, Aryan Khan, 27, along with Bilal Siddiqi and Manav Chauhan. There’s a self-referencing scene—now surely a meme—where a narcotics department sleuth arrests a DJ (Neville Bharucha) for smoking weed. The DJ protests, “But I’m not from Bollywood,” and is immediately let go.
Aryan generously drops the N-word—nepotism—while taking potshots at his own dad, “Dhai ghante ka Badshah!”
For a first-time creator, Aryan Khan has filmed what he knows best, making his debut a sort of Zoya Akhtar-ian effort.
As it stands, privilege is what you make of it. The show smartly assembles top cameos usually available only to a superstar’s son—Aamir Khan, Arshad Warsi, Karan Johar, Emraan Hashmi, and more—fitting them like chess pieces into a proper plot.
The tools of the trade are in abundance. Here’s a young kid set free to play with the toys, and he employs them effectively for movie-screen splendour.
Left to itself, *Bads of Bollywood* packs as much high-flying action as an average A-grade VFX actioner. Imagine *Fast & Furious* in Mumbai! Beyond the Lamborghini, watch a motorbike chase down the Bandra-Worli Sea Link!
Did I expect any of this from what seemed like a low-key parody series on the film fraternity? Frankly, no. And I didn’t expect the *Game of Thrones*-style twist at the end either, which cleverly reveals the asterisks in the show’s unusual title.
Like many of you, that’s the last thing I loved about *Bads of Bollywood*. So good!
https://www.mid-day.com/news/opinion/article/whats-so-bad-about-bollywood-23595505
