'The Ba***ds of Bollywood': Lakshya and Raghav Juyal on Aryan Khan Bursting Star Kid Myths With Netflix Show

The Ba***ds of Bollywood, Netflix's latest comedy show directed by Aryan Khan, looks like an extended series version of Aryan's father Shah Rukh Khan's chart-buster song 'Deewangi' from Om Shanti Om: Fun, spoofy, and peppered with cameos. The cast of the series, including Lakshya, Raghav Juyal, Anya Singh and Sahher Bambba, says the series plays out like an ode to the film industry, which is as much fun to watch as it was to shoot.

"I don't think people know this, but Aryan is an extremely funny guy, and his jokes have no limitations," Lakshay tells THR India. "He will crack a joke, Raghav will add to it, and then Aryan will take it ahead so it can go on! The jokes land on screen because the on-set ambience was such. That was the only way to mount the show."

Billed as a high-stakes drama, The Ba***ds of Bollywood follows an ambitious outsider (Lakshya) and his friends, navigating the "chaotic, larger-than-life, yet uncertain world of Bollywood."

Lakshya said the show explores multiple ends of the spectrum: an outsider, brash guy who became an overnight star after one film, and the daughter of a superstar who wants her to have a dream launch.

"Neither will get each other's worlds, but Aryan is at the centre of it. He understands this phenomenon correctly. Which is why his writing has layers. It is the ignorance of my character that he doesn't understand the world of the star kid. And Aryan has also shown that star kids are not like that (what people perceive them to be); even they have a story and have struggled."

"A lot of people have this perception about star kids that they are all just privileged. But that's wrong. There is another side to it. Of course, even for the outsider who breaks big, there is still a struggle for him, which is what Aryan has shown. Despite being a privileged kid, he has awareness of both worlds," Lakshya added.

Raghav said Aryan infused the setting of the Hindi film industry with his humour while writing the show, which debuts on Netflix on September 18. "It feels like I have been working here since my childhood because I have made life-long equations on sets. Now the industry feels like a family. On this set, we laughed a lot and got work done. The team was open to ideas and improvisations."

Sahher, who plays the star kid Karishma on the show, said that, contrary to what one would think, her prep didn't involve watching videos of celebrity kids to study how they conduct themselves.

"Aryan and I wanted to keep the character fresh. I can't even remember one instance when he gave me a real-life person's name to ape or to take mannerisms from. This character is quite relatable; she is not your typical star kid. Her challenges are real; she wants to establish herself as an actor, away from her father's legacy. He didn't want me to subconsciously start acting like somebody else," she said.

Anya, who plays Lakshya's manager on the show, echoed her thoughts. Even though Shah Rukh Khan had joked at the teaser launch that she reminded him of his manager Pooja Dadlani, Anya said the character wasn't modelled a real figure.

"Even while writing, Aryan was clear that the reference point for the character was no one particular person. The fun is not to replicate something exactly, but to ideate and make it your own. I had a lot of freedom to explore, and there was a lot of trust."