New Delhi: No one watches shows like ‘Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives’ or ‘Indian Matchmaking’ expecting something insightful, meaningful or intellectual. Even the show makers don’t claim it to be so. These shows are cringe watch that people binge-watch for a guilty pleasure.
The second season of ‘Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives’ is no exception. Featuring four Bollywood wives Maheep Kapoor (wife of Sanjay Kapoor), Seema Sajdeh (ex-wife of Sohail Khan), Bhavna Panday (wife of Chunky Panday), and Neelam Kothari Soni (Sameer Soni’s wife), the show tries to be India’s answer to ‘Keeping Up With Kardashians’ and in many ways matches the criteria but doesn’t really keep up to the glitz, glamour, and vulnerability of Kardashians. It has the potential to go beyond the superficiality and dig deeper into the life behind swanky cars and houses but the makers’ intention behind the show was never that. So, it is reduced to just a cringe watch.
The second season is definitely better than the previous one as the wives are more open and are not afraid to show their vulnerable side (though the moments are few). The show has its fine moments in terms of one-liners or a few times when the four wives didn’t hesitate to show their vulnerabilities and we could see the human side of them that we could connect to. Surprisingly, Chunky Panday and Bhavna Panday were the most likable among the lot. Special mention to Sameer Soni for being the one person who felt more like us and less from the world that was shown on the show.
There is a scene where Seema Sajdeh and her son Yohaan go out with Malaika Arora and her son Arhaan Khan for a lunch date. That conversation between the four was the most organic scene of the show, the fun banter between mothers and kids looked genuine and relatable.
Though the show is a cringe-fest, there are few things or scenes that make it too cringe to watch:
1. Ranveer Singh’s encounter with the four wives: Women in their 40s drooling over the physique of a top actor of Bollywood, well nothing wrong with it but the entire scene looked so staged and scripted. Ranveer, known for his antics, was overdoing everything to the point of crass, even Maheep and Neelam’s reactions were nothing more than an example of bad acting. I definitely wanted to fast-forward the whole cringe-fest.
2. Too much adulation for Gauri Khan: Gauri Khan, undoubtedly, is the first lady of Bollywood and we saw a lot of her in season 2, unlike the previous season. Gauri is a part of the inner circle of these four ladies but their adulation for her went beyond normal. At many points across the show, they behaved like Poo’s sidekicks (Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham reference).
3. Maheep Kapoor: It looks as if Maheep is trying too hard to play cool with her accent, cuss words, and sarcastic tones for her friends. It’s only when she is with her daughter Shanaya that we see the real side of her. Every time she spoke a cuss word like a badge of honour, it felt too cringy because it looked all made up.
4. Karan Johar and his matchmaking skills (Badhshah and Seema): In one of the episodes, Karan Johar sets a date between Badshah and Seema. Again, a very staged setup with both of them specially Badhshah looking very uncomfortable. We were feeling embarrassed for the two.
5. Tone and deaf: The show is about four wives of Bollywood actors who have a certain lifestyle that we mere mortals could just dream of or can watch on television. So, it is natural that many of their ‘struggles’ or things they say come across as tone and deaf but one particular scene worth mentioning is where Sanjay Kapoor says how divorce is a "rich people" thing and a poor person like him can’t afford a divorce. Really?
6. Ananya Panday and Shanya Kapoor’s conversation: In the last episode, during Bhavna and Chunky’s vow renewal ceremony (a little cringe but overall, a cute affair) Ananya and Shanaya are having a conversation that in a way reaffirms things being said about star kids’ IQ. The whole conversation can become a memefest on its own. Why did this scene make its way to the show from the editing table, is beyond our understanding. If it was a way to promote the two, it was an epic failure. On another note, what’s with the excess usage of ‘like’ in every sentence?
Karan Johar in his long Instagram post wrote that he is proud of his friends for putting themselves out knowing people may laugh at them. Well, the show would have been a different opportunity altogether if the ladies would have put themselves out in a more vulnerable rather than superficial way which would have resulted in people connecting with them on many levels and not laughing at them.
Seema’s son Yohaan summarised the whole show (he was referring to his mother and her friends though) in an apt line - ‘Gareebo Key Kardashians’ and we can’t agree more.