'Fabulous Lives...' review: Disappointing, overlong season offers nothing new
Netflix's quintessential guilty pleasure show, Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, has been rebranded as Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives for season three. Returning members Bhavana Panday, Maheep Kapoor, Neelam Kothari, and Seema Sajdeh aside, the new entrants include Kalyani Saha Chawla, Shalini Passi, and Riddhima Kapoor Sahni. Despite the new stars, nothing else has changed, and FLBW scores low on both drama and entertainment.
How will the new friends change the main group's dynamics?
FLBW3 follows the same premise as the first two installments and is centered around the lives of the Mumbai group (Kothari, Panday, Maheep, and Sajdeh). Their adventures multiply when they socialize with their friends from Delhi—Chawla, Passi, and Riddhima. The cracks in this new "friendship" begin to show from the first interaction, while Maheep-Sajdeh try to reconcile their differences and salvage their decades-long friendship.
It's style over substance yet again
Everyone is always (even when they're having a slumber party) dressed to the nines, especially Passi, who appears to be an art installation herself! So, if you thought the show couldn't take the glam and luxury quotient a few notches higher than the previous seasons, you're in for a surprise (or a shock!). After a point, the bling hurts you in the eye.
The central debate fizzles out too soon
The Delhi v/s Mumbai debate doesn't make the show any better or more entertaining. All it does is drive the show into the ground, stretch the runtime, and feature multiple substanceless, yawn-inducing conversations. Also, it's amusing how the cast speaks about Delhi and Mumbai not as if they are two cities of the same nation, but two entirely different countries.
You will end up forwarding a lot of it
FLBW knows that it's not meant to be taken seriously, and it's not offering any earth-shattering commentary about cinema or art, but even at the level of cringe-binge, it disappoints. The first season—the best out of the three—was just as pretentious and showed us the cast's holier-than-thou attitude, but at least it remained engaging and entertaining. Season three, though, struggles greatly and fails often.
All episodes seem like a repeat of each other
Most of the conversations between the Mumbai group are about ridiculing Passi, which gets annoying and predictable after the first few scenes. The episodes move in circles, and by the time you finish watching all eight of them, you don't know these seven women any better than you did in the first episode. It's shockingly hollow and enervating.
Looking for special cameos? You'll be disappointed
Other than Ektaa R Kapoor, Gauri Khan, and Saif Ali Khan (the most delightful), the show is surprisingly low on celebrity cameos, something that was its main pull in the first two seasons. Of course, producer Karan Johar features multiple times, but his conversations with the Mumbai gang aren't as insightful or entertaining as they were in the previous two outings.
Orry adds nothing to the show
Speaking of cameos, I greatly missed the presence of Arjun Kapoor, who has previously featured since he's Maheep's nephew. The show tries to grasp at straws by adding a sequence featuring Sajdeh and Orry, but it comes as a desperate attempt to grab eyeballs. Choppy editing, manufactured "reality," and forced conversations also plunge it toward frustrating territory, and it struggles to find its footing.
Features some heartfelt sequences but doesn't build on them
Amid all the cacophony in this wobbly season, there are some moments of genuine, truthful emotion. For instance, toward the end, Kothari and Ektaa talk candidly about the former's daughter discovering her failed first marriage; there are also sparks of authenticity in some conversations between Sajdeh and Maheep. If only we could have seen more of that throughout the season.
Nothing you haven't already seen; 2/5 stars
FLBW comes alive when Samir Soni, Chunky Panday, and Sanjay Kapoor appear onscreen, but their presence is limited to cameos. Fabulous Lives... already peaked with Shah Rukh Khan's cameo in season one; I doubt it'll ever see the same highs again. At one point, Panday says, "Everyone is trying but somewhere it's not coming together." I felt the same about the show, too.
