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By Martin D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | September 24, 2025 Rating: 4/5 The Essence: Ba***ds of Bollywood is not just a web series; it’s Bollywood caught with its pants […]
By Martin D’Souza | Opening Doorz Editorial | September 24, 2025
Rating: 4/5
The Essence: Ba***ds of Bollywood is not just a web series; it’s Bollywood caught with its pants down and loving every minute of it. Aryan Khan swings big on debut and, surprise surprise, connects like a pro. The cast is a mad mix of brilliance, blunders, and chutzpah that keeps you grinning and groaning in equal measure. If you’re a Bollywood junkie, you’ll giggle at the in-jokes. If you’re a hater, you’ll cheer at the takedowns. Either way, it’s five hours of unfiltered fun that’ll have you saying: “Picture abhi baaki hai, dost!”
Gafoor… the track rings in your head… for its sheer nuance, off-beat rhythm, and the sly undertone of the underworld in Bollywood.
Anya Singh as Sanya, Aasman’s manager… she’s the darling of the series. Soft, subtly pushy, and fiercely loyal. I’ll go so far as to say she’s the soul of the show: in character, in form… fluid and lucid throughout.
Raghav Juyal as Parvaiz, Aasman’s friend… tapori and terrific rolled into one. A role easy to sketch on paper but difficult to essay. He makes absolute mincemeat of the task.
Lakshya Lalwani as Aasman Singh… a newcomer from Delhi finding his feet in Bollywood. Young, arrogant, boorish, brilliant. All rolled into one. A star performance.
Aryan Khan, the nepo kid as director… Talented? He’s like a Vaibhav Suryavanshi, lighting up the cricket stadiums with his pyrotechnics in his debut IPL season this year. Taking on the industry he has grown up in, sidestepping the dilemmas of box-office diktats and mafia production houses, he handles each and every scene with skill that engages your mind and leaves you smiling throughout.
Baadshah director? Too early to say, but yes, his debut is a brilliant roller-coaster that promises to keep you hooked for seven straight episodes without a break. That’s a straight 5-hour plus run. At least that’s what it did to me. At the end, I was shaking my head in disbelief, in the same manner I left the theatre after watching Dirty Picture.
This one is pure Entertainment. Entertainment. Entertainment.
Welcome to The Ba**ds of Bollywood. It’s fast-paced, thrilling, and pulls no punches. A hilarious ‘hit-me-in-the-face’ celebration of Bollywood, its stars, and idiosyncrasies.
Aryan begins with an introduction to The Ba***ds of Bollywood which sets the tone of the series. Then there’s the ‘Movie Mafia’, ‘Barbaad Mohabbat’, ‘Bullshit Party’, ‘My Hero’, ‘The Filmfirst Awards’, and finally, the turning of scales in favour of film producer Freddy Sodawallah, essayed by Manish Chaudhari, ‘Picture ka title hoga…’ Sodawallah finds his ‘helper’ in an actor who he had in a bind in a contract for 15 years!
In the final episode, we know why Ajay Talvar does not want his daughter (nepo kid) Karishma, played by Sahher Bambba, to debut opposite Aasman in a Karan Johar flick!
Although Aryan in his debut as a director takes on Bollywood as a subject and uses it as a punching bag, he does not lose sight of the ‘why’ of this web series and the ‘how’, to maintain a clean story flow, without deviating too much into the excesses. This is what tips the scale in his favour as a director—telling a story whilst keeping the flavour intact. It’s Bollywood, smack in your face.
The character sketches all add up to make one seriously funny ensemble cast whose stories intertwine.
Aasman, the young and brash actor, is on a high after his debut film Revolver, connects with the masses. Anya is quick to get him the big production houses and even insists he wait before signing a three-film contract with Sodawallah. Without her knowledge, he inks the deal, and that’s where he binds himself!
Jairaj Saxena (Rajat Bedi) is one such actor who has been ‘bound’ by Sodawallah and then banned by the movie mafia. How he manages to extricate himself and turn tables on the unrelenting producer to get a higher stake in the production house is what happens when you decide the race is not over, even when the others are all over you!
Add to that the story of Avtaar Singh (Manoj Pahwa), who has been looking for work as a singer-composer even before the birth of his nephew Aasman, and Mona Singh (a background dancer who settled for marital bliss), and the plot is complete.
Then there’s also Bobby Deol as Ajay Talvar… a prominent actor and father of Shaumik and Karishma… matured like fine wine. No more just shaking his wild mane, dancing with two left feet. He can’t shake his mane here because the hair weaving will give way! I’m a joking. But yes, I’m serious. But seriously, he’s come a long way and is just about getting into the groove. Baap ho to aisa. And in the last episode, his ‘character’ reveals much more. Pun intended.
Then there’s also Divik Sharma as Shaumik Talvar, Ajay Talvar’s son… if ever there was an over-the-top performance that tilts the scale as award-worthy, this is it.
If you’ve seen a juggler walk a tight rope holding three footballs in one hand and five lemons in another, and still sipping beer and having fun whilst doing all this, it has to be Divik. Tricky roles like this require a level of chutzpah that’s out of this world. This guy is chutzpah personified.
And finally, Sahher Bambba, the nepo kid… Debuting with Sunny Deol’s son (Pal Pal Dik Ke Pass 2019), she is the daughter of Bobby Deol. She makes good strides to up her graph. Though she’s an outsider from Shimla in real life, she slips into the role of a nepo kid with surprising ease.
Ba***ds of Bollywood is not just a web series; it’s Bollywood caught with its pants down and loving every minute of it. Aryan Khan swings big on debut and, surprise surprise, connects like a pro. The cast is a mad mix of brilliance, blunders, and chutzpah that keeps you grinning and groaning in equal measure. If you’re a Bollywood junkie, you’ll giggle at the in-jokes. If you’re a hater, you’ll cheer at the takedowns. Either way, it’s five hours of unfiltered fun that’ll have you saying: “Picture abhi baaki hai, dost!”
Credits
Producer: Red Chillies Entertainment
Director: Aryan Khan
Star Cast: Anya Singh, Sahher Bambba., Mona Singh, Bobby Deol, Lakshya Lalwani, Raghav Juyal, Rajat Bedi, Manoj Pahwa, Divik Sharma, Manish Chaudhari
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