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It is safe to assume that Neelam Kothari took her role in Hum Saath Saath Hain (1999) very seriously, because she is a stereotypical pativrata nari whose entire life revolves around her husband.
The second season of Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives (2020 – Present) is an extension of an echo chamber called Bollywood where one friend circle of actors, directors and talentless star kids controls the entire industry.
The new season remains as shallow as the first one. Here are 5 reasons why you should avoid it.
Maheep Kapoor is the primary reason behind the show being completely unwatchable. Right from the first scene, the viewers find her belittling her friends and mocking their life decisions.
She can be found criticising and humiliating Bhavna Pandey over her willingness to renew her wedding vows after twenty-four years of marriage. Also, who even refers to their friends as ‘twats’ in 2022? Perhaps, Chanel Oberlin. However, let’s not forget that Kapoor’s clothes are too poorly designed in the series for her to be considered an Indianised version of a character that Emma Roberts could portray with ease.
Apart from her loud acting, poor dialogue delivery and overly exaggerated facial features, Kapoor also tries her best to act like a perfect gold-digger who is proud of how she forgave her husband over his ‘indiscretion’ for he was the one who provided her with a cushy life. She also ‘allowed’ him to do lovemaking scenes in a film as she needed his pay cheque to live in a fancy apartment.
I am genuinely glad that she isn’t more of a public figure because she would’ve genuinely made a terrible role model for the Gen Zs.
The makers of the show try to balance Kapoor’s loudness with Kothari’s extreme calmness. Her voice remains soft and her volume low (well, extremely low) while she delivers the most sexist dialogues written for the series. It is safe to assume that Neelam Kothari took her role in Hum Saath-Saath Hain (1999) very seriously, because she is a stereotypical pativrata nari whose entire life revolves around her husband.
Furthermore, in her own words, “every actress has a shelf life,” after which she stops receiving roles in Bollywood films. While this line is true in the current scenario, Kothari attempts to normalise it instead of criticising it in any way.
Sajdeh isn’t as senseless as Kapoor and Kothari. However, the only scene in the series in which she isn’t entirely unforgettable is one where she accidentally hurts Bhavana Pandey’s eye while throwing a grape at Neelam Kothari. Her character seems to have been purposefully dumbed down by the makers because all one manages to recall about her in the end is that Karan Johar tried setting her up with the rapper Badshah and Sima aunty from Indian Matchmaking (2020 – Present) showed up in one of the episodes to find her a suitable match.
Thus, despite having more potential than most of the other ‘Bollywood wives’ in the series, Sajdeh fails to leave an impression on the audience.
Bhavana Pandey, who is actually the only bearable person among the others, has no role in the second season whatsoever. There is just one important discussion about her in it and, as mentioned earlier, it is about her decision to marry her husband once again.
Apart from that, the viewers simply get to know how proud she is of her daughter, Ananya Pandey’s talent and confidence. That is, in every way, a tragedy because we all know how talented Ananya truly is. Oh yes, there is another interesting thing shown about her in the show – she carries a shocking pink Moschino bag when she decides to pay a visit to her daughter when the latter is busy with a photoshoot.
Netflix definitely needs better content because Sima and Neena can’t be everywhere all the time.
A few weeks back, we got the second seasons of Masaba Masaba (2020 – Present) and Indian Matchmaking (2020 – Present) and that gave us enough of Neena Gupta and Sima Taparia. However, Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, once again, includes Neena Gupta sharing her sob story and Sima Taparia preaching her marriage philosophies for what feels like the millionth time.
We are fed up hearing Neena Gupta say the same thing over and over again. Any dialogue, no matter how progressive, becomes boring if repeated too many times. Thus, if Gupta is made to repeat the story of her struggles in every random Netflix show, the audiences will eventually lose interest.
We are also sick of Sima aunty forcing women to adjust and compromise. Marriages aren’t the same as flights getting cancelled and a passengers not having a choice apart from remaining stuck in the airport. Regressive dialogues, too, become extremely frustrating to hear after a point.
A dysgraphic writer who spends most of her time watching (and thinking about) Bollywood films. read more...
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