Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives review: The Netflix reality series reeks of desperation
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November 28, 2020 2:58:08 pm
Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives is streaming on Netflix.
In the seventh episode of the show, Karan Johar — the brain behind the cringe fest — questions the four women of the hour. These questions were supposed to be criticism that the four leads will hear after the show has aired. “Why the fuck should I watch a show about four women who don’t have jobs? Why are these pre-menopausal women getting on my nerves? They pretend they work, but what do they actually do?” Well, Johar’s assertions are bang on point. In The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, we get the uber plush lives of the almost famous wives of Bollywood. What else can we expect given that the production is by Dharmatic, the digital leg of Dharma Productions, the production house headed by Karan Johar.
The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives (TFLBW), an eight-part reality show, which features four ‘Bollywood wives’ and their apparent fabulous lives started streaming on Friday on Netflix. The wives in question are Maheep Kapoor (wife of Sanjay Kapoor), Bhavana Pandey (wife of Chunky Pandey), Seema Khan (wife of Sohail Khan) and Neelam Kothari Soni (wife of Samir Soni), and the show is an attempt to give us a no-holds-barred, all-access entry into their lives, which includes children, their work and their husbands. Apparently, the four women have been friends for 25 years, and share a bond that can only be tagged as ‘family’, as they have been together for the births of their children, their ups and downs etc.
TFLBW is a very homegrown take on the phenomenon ‘Keeping with the Kardashians’ (KUWTK), which is currently in its 18th season. KUWTK was severely criticised for it’s ‘famous for being famous’ concept, TFLBW is, unsurprisingly, following the same template. All the four women will now be household names, thanks to the show. Otherwise, no one really knew them. Ok, perhaps the most ardent followers of Bollywood gossip would know these Bollywood wives. The problem with TFLBW is its premise, the first world problems of uber-rich people. The show opens with the appearance of Shanaya Kapoor (Sanjay and Maheep Kapoor’s daughter) at the coming out debutante ball Le Ball in Paris. The junior Kapoor is rubbing shoulders with the ilk of Jet Li’s daughter, as she is presented in adult society. All this while, she is practising her waltz, and the parents are sipping wine and chucking oysters at a chic al fresco bistro, as they discuss the future of their daughter.
The other thing is that these Bollywood wives are just Bollywood lite. They are the not the who’s who of the inner circle. What we get instead is the periphery of Bollywood. Sanjay Kapoor, though he is looking impressive enough in his second innings, was never the IT boy of Bollywood and Chunky Pandey, his popularity in the eighties and in neighbouring Bangladesh notwithstanding, never really got a second wind. Same for Sohail Khan, the least known and popular of the Khan brothers. Neelam Kothari was a hit name in the eighties, but currently she is married to actor Samir Soni, who is best remembered for his appearance in Ekta Kapoor soaps. So what we have is really Bollywood lite 2.0 and a get together of people. The real Bollywood wives who are recognisable in the industry are Gauri Khan, Suzanne Khan Roshan, Kiran Rao, Twinkle Khanna and Mira Kapur. These are the power-wielding names, with instant recall value.
