The Ba***ds of Bollywood review: Aryan Khan’s directorial debut is bold, messy, and packed with satire, real-life scandals, cameos, with twists you won’t see coming. Is it worth watching?
-Robin Bhuyan
The Ba***ds of Bollywood landed on Netflix on September 18th, 2025, produced under Red Chillies Entertainment and presented by Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan. The series arrived with enormous hype because it marked SRK’s son Aryan Khan’s directorial debut, and the chatter in the industry was deafening, especially due to the subject of the series. Would the star kid be tender with his own house or ruthless enough to roast it? Would he make a safe vanity project or something that punches back at the hypocrisy of the industry we have been seeing for years? Those questions are why interest in The Ba***ds of Bollywood felt less like curiosity and more like an event.
(Before we continue, if you are looking for the best gaming chairs, you can read here more about the DPS gaming chair.)
Plot summary
The show follows Aasmaan Singh (Lakhsya), whose debut film becomes a surprise hit and sets off a chain of deals and rivalries. His success lands him a 3-film contract deal under the ruthless producer Freddy Sodawallah. However, things get complicated when he receives another film offer from Karan Johar alongside Karishma Talvar, (Sahher Bambba), a star kid, daughter of Ajay Talvar (Bobby Deol). This leads to professional and ego clashes.
However, Aasman and Karishma soon begin to fall in love but actor Ajay Talvar for some unknown reason, tries everything he can to sabotage Aasmaan’s career and prevent him from marrying his daughter. Their romance feels like a callback to those 80s and 90s love stories where the hero and heroine are madly in love but the father stands in the way, which is why till the final episode we can find many things predictable. However, by the last episode the series builds to a shock twist which none of us would ever expect. It’s pure soap opera shock value, but it works because the satire never takes its foot off the pedal.
Direction and tone
For Aryan Khan’s directorial debut the tone in The Ba***ds of Bollywood is confident and self aware. The show is willing to poke and roast its own house i.e. Bollywood. And its punches definitely hit hard. Nepotism, privilege of star kids, overhyped award shows, PR machinery and even whispers about underground influence get called out.
There is also a straight up gag about Shah Rukh Khan himself, the “Ghante ka Badshaah” line, which makes the show feel fearless and a little cheeky. This is also something that no other director other than SRK’s son himself would dare to do. That self satire can however read like a tactic to blunt critics, but it also shows guts. Despite being a star kid himself, Aryan Khan is making fun of his own world in public. That takes nerve.
Writing, satire and where it lands
The Ba***ds of Bollywood is at its strongest when it refuses to skip the ugly bits. It rattles off scenes about “movie mafia”, struggles that “outsiders” face, award shows that run like pantomimes and a lot more. As we already discussed, it even drops a line mocking Shah Rukh Khan and that kind of in-your-face gag is both shocking and oddly refreshing. Those jabs are not just for laughs. They signal that the show is willing to even take names, or at least point fingers at familiar faces. And the fallout is real. Narcotics officer Sameer Wankhede has filed a defamation suit, which proves the satire was too bold. And maybe it was not safely fictionalized in a way that keeps it purely theoretical.
Despite its bold take, the satire is uneven. Important threads are teased and then abandoned. The lead actor makes fun of the nepotism star kid and her privileges, but eventually he himself apologizes and begins a romance story with her. Nepotism is punched as a joke but not interrogated properly as a cruel system.
The show even hints at the industry’s darker side when the infamous “Gafoor Bhai” shows up to threaten Aasmaan. It’s a moment that grabs your attention and makes you wonder how far the story will go into these underground ties. But before it can build on that tension, the script quickly jumps to the next joke. The humour keeps the series fun and easy to watch, yet it also has a downside: serious issues end up feeling like punchlines. The Ba***ds of Bollywood takes bold swings, and many of them hit, but sometimes it treats heavy topics like background props in a comedy skit.
Performances and cameos
The cast hold the tone together. Lakshya as Aasmaan is a surprisingly steady center, balancing mild arrogance with vulnerability so you can believe him as both star and a struggler. Sahher Bambba brings honesty and heart to her scenes, and Bobby Deol chews through every moment with intensity, turning even satire into something that stings.
Cameos are everywhere: Along with SRK in an extended cameo the film features many other well-known faces, some of them including Salman, Aamir, Ranbir, Karan Johar, Emran Hashmi and even SS Rajamouli. They all make appearances in ways that feel like not just fan service and a deliberate meta commentary. Shah Rukh Khan’s involvement is inevitable and his moments are playful, as they have been specifically designed to amplify the show’s self referential tone.
Technicals, style and pacing
The show looks good on screen. The parties, film sets and shady backroom meetings all have a shiny, polished look that matches the vibe it is trying to set. The editing is fast and keeps the energy up, but it also makes the pacing uneven at times. Some episodes hurry through important moments, while others drag on with inside jokes that only hardcore Bollywood followers will get. The music leans into parody too, which can be funny, but sometimes it pushes the show into full-blown caricature. Some viewers will enjoy that chaos, while others might just find it exhausting.
Where it earns respect and where it stumbles
Aaryan Khan and the show earns major credit for boldness. It stakes a claim in territory most mainstream filmmakers would never dare to touch. Showing industry hypocrisies, flaunting insider jokes, poking fun at huge figures are acts of bravado. That audacity is the show’s core strength. You can say anything, but one thing remains: You cannot accuse The Ba***ds of Bollywood of being timid.
At the same time this very approach is also the source of its flaws. Self satire can act like armour, and that armour sometimes becomes a shield that prevents real accountability. By turning heavy themes into comic set pieces, the series can risk making serious problems seem trivial.
Final Verdict
The Ba***ds of Bollywood isn’t some carefully crafted critique of the industry. It’s loud, chaotic, and at times brilliant. It is more like a roast that knows exactly how outrageous it wants to be. Real criticism that addresses the important issues in a thought-provoking way usually takes its time, but this show is all about quick punches. It throws a line, lands the laugh, and then rushes to the next bit. For Aryan Khan’s directorial debut, that’s both the flaw and the charm. He might be using self-satire to take the sting out of criticism, but he’s also saying things most big projects would never go near. That takes courage.
If you’re expecting deep analysis, Ba***ds of Bollywood isn’t it. But if you just want something bold that makes you laugh, squirm, and think for a moment, it’s worth the watch. It’s messy, fun, and provocative. No, it’s not the last word on Bollywood’s flaws, but definitely a conversation starter.
