If you’re looking to add something in your cringe-watch list, the recently released Netflix series—The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives Season 2 is right up your alley. It does not matter if you have not seen the first season because this one is even more non-sensical, comical in a brash way, and plays on different stereotypes. You’ll either die with hysteria or gouge your eyes out.
Starring the tongue in cheek Maheep Kapoor, the “proper” Neelam Kothari Soni, the try-hard feminist icon—Seema Sachdev Khan, and the pricey Panday girl, Bhavana; the show is Karan Johar’s pet project. Even with so many celebrity appearances, the series does not manage to live up to its hype. It ends up as a cheap-grade version of Keeping Up With The Kardashians which too is problematic in its own sense.
Here are five reasons why the show is a disaster:
1. Bhavana Panday wanting to renew her wedding vows with Chunky Panday
This very thought by Bhavana is refreshing but meets negativity from all her friends and family members. Ananya Panday and her sister, Rysa, make vomit-induced faces when Bhavana mentions this to them. The other wives also grimace at the fact and pass comments about the couple’s age. The romantic gesture might be the only highlight of the show, but everybody’s discouragement proves the ageist mentality of society where even the idea of elder couples having a sexual and intimate life is looked down upon, as if its vulgar and obscene. Meanwhile, movies like Liger showing the sex appeal of Ananya and Vijay Devarakonda, two young actors, is normalised and whistle worthy. The double standards lend a traditionalist view of marriage where any kind of romantic desire by a woman is not acceptable.
2. The portrayal of menopause
Maheep only wants to earn money and for that she will go to any length—the length being the wives doing an advertisement on menopause. The idea brings constant rebuke by the others as they find it “obscene” to talk about a concept like menopause which is natural and common in middle-aged and elderly woman. They associate menopause with aging which should never happen in their universe.
All of them go to a celebrity obstetrician-gynaecologist to gain some awareness about the natural process which might be the only good thing coming out of Maheep’s endeavour. However, later she comes up with a funny jingle for the menopause ad which trivialises it and makes an important bodily process like menopause a just-for-fun gag.
3. Seema as a divorced single-mother
Seema, Sohail Khan’s ex wife wants to remove the plaque of “Khan” from outside her home’s entrance. She wishes to become her own person and let go of her marital relationship. This brings disdainful comments from her son, Nirvan Khan. He is unable to process the fact that his mother wants to regain her individualism. Much later, they both come to understanding, but it is only after Seema pesters Nirvan to understand her point-of-view.
She also wants to start a fashion brand with the name, “Waysted,” which raises the eyeballs of her family and friends. Seema is done with her bridal collection and needs a fresh start, but her own brother rudely retorts by saying that she has no business acumen, and he would not invest in her venture. Surrounded over a family dining table, her children also call her designs violent and serial-killer-type while making fun of her creative idea.
Johar too says awful comments about her idea. It is only after Badshah, the Indian rapper comes and appreciates the brand designs that Seema gains some confidence, which also ends up as a ploy for Johar to make Seema not-so-single by implying some chemistry between her and Badshah. Why is a divorced single-mother an anomaly in Indian society? The amount of disrespect she receives for just trying to overcome her past and being assertive is outrageous.
4. Samir Soni, the men’s rights activist
When Soni announces that “feminists and all” don’t watch women-oriented films, a question arises as to who gave these data points to him which he goes to present on a national television debate. He further illustrates his point by saying that women cribbing about equal pay in films is all drama as nobody watches those type of films. These comments are downright sexist and even blame women for structural inequalities such as the wage gap, who are in fact at the receiving end of discriminatory practices.
More so, he wants Neelam to only prioritize him who is her husband rather than her group of friends. When Seema says that Neelam ghosted her after her marriage, Soni remarks that it was the right thing to do. Why should Neelam not be allowed to have a personal life outsider her marriage? Of course, he is her “Pati Parmeshwar,” and can stop her from doing anything. She, a grown woman, can’t make her own calls and decisions. Instead of encouraging Neelam to clear her differences with Seema, Soni teaches her the rules of marriage; truly chauvinistic and patriarchal.
5. Neelam’s kissing scene
Neelam discusses with her husband, Soni, that she will have a kissing scene in Zoya Akhtar’s Made in Heaven 2, which makes him uncomfortable and in turn causes Neelam to second-guess her role. He does not come around, but Neelam finally exclaims that she, “the proper lady” is going to go crazy. I don’t even want to know what she means by this phrase.
She also goes to an Intimacy Coordinator to understand more about her kissing scene. Instead of it being a place where she and the viewers will get to learn more about consent and comfort around physical intimacy, the whole trope falls on its face when the coordinator and her start cracking jokes about it and make it a laughter fest.
The show is a must-watch for those who don’t have any other content left to watch. I don’t recommend this to anybody, even not to KJo fans who consume Koffee With Karan.