Bring me the mundane lives of the working class next. At least, it won't be as embarrassing as this, asserts Mayur Sanap.
There's a scene in the previous season of Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, Netflix's unabashedly glitzy show from their guilty pleasure catalogue, where Seema Sajdeh, one of the main characters, sends a picture of the lady gang from a vacay to her son.
He comments, 'You guys look like gareeb Kardashians.'
The camera captures Seema's flattered expressions and her smile wants us to believe it was a compliment.
This particularly amusing moment points up that the show revels in its campiness and has no qualms about the over-the-top zeal for its four signature characters: Maheep Kapoor, Bhavana Panday, Neelam Kothari Soni and Seema Sajdeh.
The latest season Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives has them pitted against Delhi's rich and haughty socialites, Riddhima Kapoor Sahni, Shalini Passi and Kalyani Saha Chawla.
Shalini is married to a business tycoon and lives in a museum-like palatial house in Delhi.
Kalyani is a business owner and entrepreneur leading her independent lifestyle. Riddhima, Ranbir Kapoor's sister, is married to her college sweetheart and has lived most her life away from her film lineage.
The ladies spend big money, look fabulous, and they have just as much drama as our original foursome.
Both groups get off on one-upmanship and their endeavours form eight excruciating episodes filled with constant bickering, dissing, bitching, and a whole lot of rolling your eyes for you as viewers.
Just for namesake, the show brands itself reality entertainment but every moment is so jarringly staged, right from empty theatrics to blingy opulence, that it doesn't even make mindless TV entertainment.
If the purpose of this show, if any, was to make us laugh at these people, then it does so with great success.
The show makes feeble attempts to add some dimension to its existing characters.
We see Seema trying to establish within herself a place where she can be strong.
The quiet and reserved Neelam shows a different side as she opens up about her first marriage. These unexpected moments arrive with a promise of something meaningful only to be concluded without any real significance.
Because this is a Karan Johar production, you get cameos of his favourites, right from Gauri Khan, Ekta Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, to a bunch of nepo babies and Karan himself. Despite all that starry pomp, the show doesn't bring an iota of interest and remains dry as dust.
Who knew watching the ultra rich would be so uninteresting!
Bring me the mundane lives of the working class next. At least, it won't be as embarrassing as this.
