The Ba***ds of Bollywood review: Aryan Khan roasts the wonderful, wickedly incestuous industry he was born into

Dubai: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was yanked into the inglorious spotlight when he was entangled in a drug case before he even made a splash in cinema.

His controversial case became a spectator sport long before he got the chance to prove he had any talent to flex – forget in the filmmaking field. He was dragged through the coals – a good, old-fashioned trial by media. Aryan and dad kept their lips sealed – not a peep since. But here he is, breaking that silence with a meta, satirical take on the duplicity and decadence of Bollywood, the glitzy song-dance industry powered by a select group of people.

And let’s be real – you’d be lying if you said you weren’t watching for signs that Aryan is throwing shade at Bollywood or its beloved fan base. Spoiler alert: he is. Everybody seems to be in on the joke though – it’s meta, it’s satirical, it’s wicked. Who else but Shah Rukh Khan’s son, with inroads into every A-lister circle, could pull enough cameos to make Oscars night look like amateur hour?

Karan Johar plays the catty movie mogul with relish – petty, powerful, and forever launching nepo babies in style. The way he toys with outsiders’ careers is chronicled with a wink and a dagger. Whatever we’ve whispered about the big, bad, terrible place called Bollywood is laid bare here. Barring the casting couch – which has been conveniently left off the books – everything else is fair game.

There’s Saher Bambba, luminous as the silver-spoon nepo baby; Lakshya Lalwani, the eager outsider with enough sass and spine to kick open Bollywood’s gates with a blockbuster; Anya Singh, Lakshya’s ride-or-die manager (perhaps modeled after SRK’s own rock, Pooja Dadlani), played brilliantly; and Bobby Deol as the SRK-esque superstar who swaggers about while trying to shield his precious daughter from falling for a plebeian like Lakshya. All these tracks click. Every actor hams it up and dials it down when needed. The satire works, the jokes land. Is the plot predictable? Yes. Is it entertaining enough to keep you hooked? Also yes.

Raghav Juyal nearly steals the show. There’s a scene where he helps Lakshya out of a scrape using some questionable means – his timing is impeccable. And his fanboy moment with Emraan Hashmi (playing himself, complete with the “kissing king” label) is hilarious. Honestly, we all need a friend like him in our lives.

While watching this glossy show that gleefully outed the warts and moles of Bollywood, I couldn’t help but wonder: did Aryan Khan really direct this, or was there a ghost director lurking in the wings? In Bollywood, anything is possible – and that delicious uncertainty only adds another layer of fun.

Even the side characters shine – the actor who plays Saher’s spoilt brother had my heart. His irreverent brat act was so spot-on. And casting “Lord Bobby,” as his die-hard fans lovingly call him, was a stroke of genius. Aryan’s street cred and access are on full display here. Even Shah Rukh himself shows up in a cameo – of course he does. Aryan is the ultimate nepo kid, and his father bats for him with commendable fierceness and love. Who cares if it feels indulgent?

Make no mistake, there are enough jokes, twists, and flashy cameos to keep this series rolling. There’s no denying that Bollywood is the unholy petri dish where Dynasty, Bold and the Beautiful, Santa Barbara, and Succession pale in comparison. It has the sacrilegious, incestuous twists of those shows – only with players who look like they’ve walked straight out of The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Yes, the product placements are blatant and some of the twists are laugh-out-loud ludicrous, but that’s Bollywood for you. Between the strugglers trying to break in, the moguls pulling the strings, and the happy endings sprinkled like confetti, there’s enough juice to keep you bingeing. Aryan has managed to extract the best from his cast and, in the process, crafted a glossy exposé of Bollywood’s worst-kept secrets.

Bottom line? Not perfect, but deliciously watchable – with just enough sass to sting.