Will Aryan Khan’s show The Ba***ds of Bollywood be to India what Seth Rogen’s The Studio is to Hollywood?

Based on a growing Hollywood studio’s inner workings — conflicts, chaos, accomplishments, setbacks — The Studio has already been renewed for season 2. Watching it unfold weekly often begs the question, especially in the minds of those who work inside or on the periphery of the Hindi film industry — if a Bollywood studio would ever commission such a self-critical satire.

Seth Rogen, Catherine O’ Hara, and Zoe Kravitz in The Studio.

“With the current state the film industry and the streamers are in right now, do you really think so? Had they been so perceptive, we wouldn’t have hit rock bottom,” says a screenwriter, whose show around the same lines is stuck in the pipeline of a leading streaming platform. “I’m ready to change names or even try to get the NOCs, but the platform is not even admitting if that’s the issue,” they add.

The said show, the writer admits, is a no-holds-barred hitjob on the studio system in India, how major global players like Walt Disney Studios and Fox Star Studios wrapped up operations in the country, and how the corporates have streamlined the business, but killed the good ol’ joy of making movies. “At the end of the day, my show is a plea in favour of the movies. But of course, the studios don’t get it,” says the writer.

It’s not like the Hindi film industry hasn’t taken potshots at itself ever. Farah Khan’s 2007 reincarnation saga Om Shanti Om and Zoya Akhtar’s 2009 directorial debut Luck By Chance attempted the same too. “Om Shanti Om was a blockbuster more because of the reincarnation storyline. The film industry setting was incidental,” said an industry insider.

“Shah Rukh Khan made more fun of his own character more than the industry itself, just like he did in Fan (2016), though in a different vein. And Farah’s barbs were sharper and more direct in the first half, which was about the yesteryear film industry, instead of the contemporary setup,” added the insider.

“Farah and Shah Rukh had the muscle to bring together 31 stars for the “Deewangi Deewangi” song. But that’s what that film is remembered for — the celeb spotting, instead of some of the celebrities cracking jokes on themselves. Do we remember the witty and juicy Filmfare Awards segment more than the song?” The insider also pointed out, “As a matter of fact, Farah shot that segment in true Studio-fashion: putting up a camera outside the actual awards.”

Govinda and Shah Rukh Khan in a still from Om Shanti Om.

Both Farah and Zoya, cousins and daughters of a film producer and screenwriters, respectively, grew up on the sidelines of the film industry. They both saw their families struggle financially, which gives them a fair vantage point to criticize the industry as much as love it. But unlike Farah’s film that packed in more themes, Zoya’s love letter to the Bollywood outsider didn’t find as many takers.

“Don’t get me wrong. It’s a much-loved film! But as a junior artist told Seth Rogen on the sets of The Studio, ‘I hope this is not a very expensive inside joke.’ That’s what Luck By Chance was: an inside joke that a few would appreciate, but many would struggle to decode the narrative winks. Hrithik Roshan, Rishi Kapoor, and Dimple Kapadia are all on point in the film, but ultimately, the film is from the point of view of the outsider,” said an assistant director who’s worked with Zoya closely in the past.

Moreover, Luck By Chance depicts the whims and quirks of the film industry insiders through a lens of love, instead of a magnifying glass that has more scrutiny. Konkona Sen Sharma’s character remains a TV actor for years while Farhan Akhtar’s rises the ranks because he blends in. The film presents both paths, instead of cornering the film industry to reflect and change itself.

Farhan Akhtar and Konkona Sen played lead roles in Luck By Chance.

Both Om Shanti Om and Luck By Chance were written at a time when the studio system hadn’t entirely found a stronghold on the Hindi film industry. Madhur Bhandarkar, who’d already explored a part of the world with Page 3 in 2005, promised to expose the industry with Heroine (2012), starring Kareena Kapoor.

“Like all Bhandarkar films, Heroine also sensationalized the events and characters. It’s not that they weren’t true. The origins were. But they were exaggerated for gratuitous effect. Whereas in The Studio, it’s not the events or the characters, but the situation that’s heightened. That places people we know in circumstances we fear,  instead of dumping characters far removed from reality in situations of the same nature,” underlined a former film critic, now an industry insider.

Just last year, there were two shows — Showtime on Disney+ Hotstar and Industry on Amazon MiniTV — that offered a ringside view of the contemporary film industry. Produced by Karan Johar, once alleged as “the flagbearer of nepotism,” Showtime was as pulpy as that punchline, but eventually drowned in its own excesses.

Whereas Industry, created by Navjot Gulati, has its moments, but is yet again a 2024 Aaram Nagar counterpart of Luck By Chance. “Showtime and Industry are fun to watch, but they don’t have the bite of Entourage or The Studio. For god’s sake, The Studio made Martin Scorsese weep on camera because he was removed from a film! Will a Sanjay Leela Bhansali do that cameo here,” said an insider.

To even come close, one needs a fresh directorial voice who hits that sweet spot between being an insider and operating on the margins. And a strong studio to back it up: You need corporate muscle and tremendous goodwill to combat potential lawsuits and Reddit threads. So, is Aryan Khan’s directorial debut The Ba***ds of Bollywood that show?

Backed by Shah Rukh’s Red Chillies Entertainment, the show hasn’t revealed any of its cards, including the cast or the plot. But everyone, from Karan Johar to Ted Sarandos, have sung laurels about the show. “It’s a fiercely guarded show. I can’t say whether it on the lines of The Studio, but the word out there is Aryan has the right distance to be objective and the apt position to be an observer,” says a former employee of Netflix India.

Right distance after his infamous arrest in 2021? “No, even before that, unlike his father, Aryan’s ambition wasn’t to be a movie star. He always wanted to be a filmmaker. If Shah Rukh Khan’s son can have and assert that clarity from such a young age, you definitely have to give him that he’s objective,” the source adds.

Also Read — The Studio review: Seth Rogen’s scathing showbiz satire can take Apple to the next level; it’s a Ted Lasso-level triumph

Whether The Ba***ds of Bollywood turns out to be to Bollywood what The Studio is to Hollywood is left to be seen, but the screenwriter (whose show is stuck) is hopeful Aryan’s show will empower other studios to greenlight scripts like theirs. “I’m all for good stories. As long as we want to empower them,” they say, adding, “Bollywood isn’t really known for poking fun at anything, whether it’s politics or businesses, but the least it can do is make fun of itself. Maybe that’s the story it needs to get out of this creative crisis.”