Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives 2 review: Cringe-binge is back and continues to make you love to hate them

2.5/5

The women of Maheep Kapoor, Seema Kiran Sajdeh, Bhavana Panday, and Neelam Kothari Soni are ready for a blazing season 2 with star-studded cameos and drool-worthy getaways, groundbreaking battles, and truckloads of hot gossip! Tackling lies, love, and life beyond 40, these pals of 25 years are ready to embark on a new chapter in their lives.

We have often heard that parents figure out the fake friendships of their kids and the children often get to know who the fake relatives are. However, in the Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, viewers are conveniently made to watch "women" of any age pass the test of time, and their friendships are delusory. The "non-scripted" reality Netflix series is back after two years with its second season, and the cringe-binge was super on.

The series features four ladies belonging to the inner circle of Bollywood: Maheep Kapoor (wife of Sanjay Kapoor), Seema Kiran Sajdeh (ex-wife of Sohail Khan), Bhavana Panday (wife of Chunky Panday), and Neelam Kothari Soni (wife of Samir Soni). From the very first episode of the new season, we see that the issues have increased and are definitely the baggage the ladies have been carrying for almost two decades now.

The series' executive producer is Karan Johar, who makes fewer appearances and only adds fuel to the fire to ignite the four ladies. In gossip columns we often read that "Karan Ne Bana Di Jodi", and finally there's a glimpse of the same in the series. When we have Indian matchmaker Sima Taparia doing a cameo in the series, do we need to sign up to watch KJo turn into the Bollywood matchmaker?

The judgemental tone of each of them is not limited to the group or even their spouses, but also other people around them. The four ladies are on a yacht in the first scene of the Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, dressed in Indian attire and returning from a wedding in Alibaug to Mumbai. We have no idea if they did attend a wedding or just stepped out to start the season with an ultra-glam quotient.

In the first season, the surprise element was introduced a lot, as that was the very first time we got to see the A-listers up close and personal via the eyes of these four ladies. The way they are now is something that no one could have imagined how life is in the Bollywood industry. The second season is just an extension of it, with more scripted and less reality. That's what I could make of it.

The soul of the gang is Gauri Khan, who is an ace interior designer and also Shah Rukh Khan's wife. She appears frequently this season and provides much-needed calm among the boisterous ladies around her. Even her screaming at the top of her voice has no screeching voice as others try to make it.

Gauri is not the only one who makes an appearance in the series. This time, we again have Malaika Arora and Arjun Kapoor coming on separate occasions. We also get to see Shweta Bachchan Nanda, Badshah, Bobby Deol, Jackie Shroff, Farah Khan Kunder, and Manish Malhotra, among others. They all try to increase the entertainment quotient of this season but fail to create an impact overall.

Like Shah Rukh Khan in the first season, the biggest surprise for this season was Ranveer Singh, who was shooting for Karan Johar's Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani. The actor's presence brings more discomfort than the "national issue" of his nude photoshoot, which was created.

From addressing the four women as "cougars" or "MILF" to even making them stare at his posterior for seconds, which felt like fewer than five minutes, the actor willingly zeroed in to become an object of desire.

The season was so scripted that the background score and the expressions the four ladies gave prior to their "shot" gave away everything. The only reality that was believable and added shock value was that of these ladies getting fillers and botox before the big occasion. The pain from the needles piercing their skin and neckline was real and dreadful to watch.

The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives Season 2 has been a major letdown, despite adding some more glam and fights among the four of them. However, one can tell that, after a while, the ladies are just tolerating each other or are delusory about their thick friendship. The discussions about the past fights or priorities in life give major vibes of teenage girls getting into fights and also being stuck in a loop over them.

Maheep Kapoor, this time again, brings her A-game with bad-mouthing and finally the ladies get to know the meaning of the "twat" word she has been using the whole show. There are some emotional angles to her arc this time, and only one is quite memorable, as it was indeed touching.

Bhavana Panday is the main attraction of this season with her renewal of wedding vows angle. Moreover, she is also at the centre of the fights that take place in the group, and she just wants to get away with it like the viewers.

Seema Kiran Sajdeh, whom I found the most interesting in the first season, stayed the same throughout this season too. She speaks about her separation with Sohail Khan, starting with the initial change of the nameplate of her house from Khans. The actor-filmmaker had made an appearance in the previous season but was only mentioned in this one. Moreover, Seema also reveals that they had been separated for five years before heading for a divorce. She also gets to meet Sima Taparia, whose homophobic moment was explored too well in the series.

Last but not the least, Neelam Kothari Soni finally gets her acting gig with a kissing scene in Amazon Prime Video's Made in Heaven Season 2. However, Samir and her judgemental caps are totally on this season and might just leave you more weirded out altogether.

The season hits its low at the Jawai Reserve in Rajasthan, where everyone brings their most bizarre personality to the safari. The whole sequence will leave you scratching your head and puzzled about why the hell this is happening if it really happened.

The eight episodes will definitely make you want to watch them as the cringe-binge is real. But, after watching the entire season, the outcome is meh, and ending it on a Ranveer Singh note only adds to that.

The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives Season 2 is binge-watched and, barring minuscule moments, the series has nothing new to offer, but it does get more glamorous and louder than one can hear!