By - Amit kumaR Agarwal
Cry nepotism or whatever you want; the fact that Aryan Khan gets a debut which many film-school pass-outs dream of, is a reality with 'The Ba***ds of Bollywood' - a show centered around the film-industry.
There have been many films set in the film-industry both in the Indian Film Industry and Hollywood - from Guru Dutt's Kaagaz Ke Phool to multi Academy Award winning The Artist.
For audience at large, the films or webseries set in the film-industry that made a mark in India in past-two decades are the webseries, Jubilee and probably, the truest account of the film-industry, with a brilliant act by Rishi Kapoor, Luck By Chance.
The Ba***ds of Bollywood had it all but the webseries falls flat because of a flawed premise.
A superstar (Bobby Deol) wants his 'bastard' son (Lakshya) - hence the title, The Bastards of Bollywood - out of the debut film of his daughter (Sehher) because he doesn't want a brother to romance his sister, err.. step-sister. Perfect!
BUT - where are the emotions required for such a story, told in a long-format, read webseries.
The first question is - do the audiences feel for the protagonists.
NO - and that is the biggest undoing of this Aryan Khan directorial.
Unless, you get emotions right you can't connect with the audiences - all the top directors in the world get one thing right, emotions and that is precisely what is missing in this webseries.
Also, after the 3rd episode, the episodes that follow go, on and on - did we have an editor on the show?
So you have the entire film-industry in the webseries a la pops, Om Shanti Om - just that it works in bits and pieces. The best cameos are Ranbir Kapoor and S.S. Rajamouli-Aamir Khan's.
The best act in the webseries comes from Divik Sharma playing Shaumik Talvar. His portrayal of a Gen Z spoilt brat of rich parents is so effortless and flawless that you can't help ignore parallels in real life.
Of course, Season 2 of the webseries will follow and you can again cry hoarse from rooftops - nepotism. But then does anyone care, anymore.