At the end of Episode 1 of “The Ba***ds of Bollywood,” I cackled so loudly that I startled my editor.
That’s the premiere of Aryan Khan’s Netflix series which ends with the line “Say no to drugs,” spoken directly into camera as a deliciously cheeky reference to Khan’s own 2021 drug charges that led to nearly a month of jail time. Back then, even being the son of Hindi film industry royalty (Shah Rukh Khan) couldn’t help — but now, it’s given a voice to one of the most promising talents in Bollywood.
“The Ba***ds of Bollywood” follows the rising star of Aasmaan Khan (Lakshya), an industry outsider with a massive hit on his hands and offers rolling in left and right. In the midst of a precarious contract situation, he nabs a leading role with director Karan Johar (played by himself) and Karishma Talwar (Sahher Bambba), her first leading role as she inherits the legacy of her megastar father Ajay (Bobby Deol).
Khan’s prime directive is to subvert every trope of the industry he’s grown up in, even when “Ba***ds” leans into its filmier tendencies (action sequences and aesthetics in particular). At its best, the series feels like “Hacks” or “The Studio” or hometown comp “Om Shanti Om.” Bollywood A-listers clock in and out as heightened and hilarious versions of themselves, from a truly superb turn from Johar to drive-bys from Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Ranveer Singh, Ranbir Kapoor, and many more (my personal favorite is Episode 3’s outrageous guest arc). The industry functions on a delicate infrastructure of intimidation, backbiting, and the occasional contract amid endless favors, yanking Aasmaan through its machinations like a rag doll in the wind.
While the story belongs to Aasmaan and Karishma, casting directors Karan Mally and Nandini Shrikent surround the two leads with a dynamic ensemble. That includes Anya Singh as Aasmaan’s manager Sanya, Raghav Juyal as bestie Parvaiz, Manish Chaudhari as mustache-twirling studio executive Freddie Sodawallah, Manoj Pahwa as Aasmaan’s uncle Avtar, and Mona Singh and Vijayakant Kohli as his parents. Singh and Juyal share most of Lakshya’s scenes but their characters have little to no identity outside of Aasmaan — a flaw that reveals itself in correlation with the series softening its bite over the course of seven episodes, shifting focus to the tension between Aasmaan, Karishma, and Ajay and its outrageous climax.
Through it all Khan demonstrates unwavering loyalty to his more-than-slightly chaotic voice, even when he risks disorienting the audience. This is not your standard hero’s journey, love story, or family drama, and complacency will drive that home even further. It’s also not particularly interested in finding the most palatable offbeat path; from cursing to sex to violence, anyone can find something to balk at as much as to laugh.
The same way this writer/director took a hard left from the on-screen career millions have assumed for him since birth, his own creation defies expectations and crafts something far more memorable than any lukewarm nepo debut.
“The Ba***ds of Bollywood” is now streaming on Netflix.