The four stars of “Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives Season 3” say they have a blast whenever they are together and the show somewhat captures this dynamic but it is not easy to open their lives and homes for judgement.
Maheep Kapoor, Neelam Kothari Soni, Seema Kiran Sajdeh, and Bhavana Pandey are back with the new season of the very binge-able show which sees the quartet navigate their personal and professional lives. The new season, which pits them with three women from Delhi, premiered on the streamer last week.
Maheep, who is the wife of Sanjay Kapoor, said she dove straight “into the deep end” when she said yes to the Karan-Johar produced show.
“It’s tough to let people into your homes and lives, and be up for judgement… Sometimes I forget there are cameras around. There is a comfort zone with these girls. I cannot censor myself. This is the way we are and it comes across in the show…
“It’s not fun and games for us. It takes a big toll on us mentally because we are putting ourselves out there and we are giving a point of view and we are hoping people will get our point of view. It’s nerve racking,” she told PTI in an interview.
Neelam, also an actor and jewellery designer, said before every season starts shooting, she makes “mental notes” about how much she wants to put out there.
“We balance each other out. If we shoot today, then we decide how that goes, and we decide what we shoot tomorrow based on our conversations.”
“I don’t want to know anything. I go into it completely blind… It’s not work for us. It’s so much fun. It’s become a part of who we are,” added Seema.
In a tender moment from the latest season of “Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives”, the viewers see Seema and her son Nirvaan, whom she shares with former husband-producer Sohail Khan, discuss about her moving on in life.
All conversations in the show are “real”, said Seema who introduced her current love interest Vikram at the end of the season. They were engaged before her marriage with Sohail.
“Even the conversations that happened between my son and me last season or this season, I didn’t know that was the question he was going to ask me. There’s no guard when it’s only him and me… It’s common knowledge that I have no filter,” she added.
What was different this time was that three “wives” — Riddhima Kapoor Sahni, Shalini Passi, and Kalyani Saha Chawla — from the Delhi society circuit.
Did the fabulous four from Mumbai get a “culture shock” when this new trio joined the show?
Their answer: “Not really” as all of them have some or the other connection to Delhi.
Bhavana, also an entrepreneur, said she has lived and studied in Delhi and still is in touch with her friends here.
Neelam shared the same sentiment.
“Each of us knew what Delhi is all about. We have travelled to Delhi, Samir (Soni, her husband) is from Delhi. We already knew the dynamics of the way Delhi people throw parties, their lifestyle.”
Seema said her cousin, who got married in Delhi, has been living in the city for 40 years.
“I always make fun of her, her whole demeanour has changed. It was exactly what I thought it would be. Bombay and Delhi are like chalk and cheese,” she added.
Maheep said she too “wasn’t completely blown over”.
But what probably no one was expecting was Shalini, a philanthropist, an art collector, and artist, to dance in the rain and enter the beach waters fully clothed. Neelam and Bhavana, who witnessed the whole scene unfold in front of their eyes on the show, were shocked and their reaction is viral on social media.
“People have been commenting that ‘Oh, we would do this, we do that’. No, I’m sorry. That’s not what people do, especially when it’s raining. Bhavana and I were shocked and fascinated. We couldn’t stop laughing,” said Neelam.
Bhavana said she would have had the same reaction even if someone from the Mumbai gang had done something like that.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with Bombay or Delhi. If Seema or Maheep did that, I would react the same. It’s not like Shalini did it that we went crazy reacting. I think we would look like crazy people if we didn’t react. That scene lands because of our reaction.”
Over three seasons, the four have become “tighter and closer” as a group, said Neelam.
“We have had our fights as you can see, we’ve kissed and made up. We were really unsure about hanging around with the Delhi people. That also made us tighter,” said Maheep, adding Shalini brought her “A-game” to the series.
She said she gets “nervous” every time a new season of “Fabulous Lives vs Bollywood Wives” drops.
For Seema, it’s like doing homework.
“I didn’t watch season one because I was terrified. But I sat down to watch whole seasons two and three like homework. These three (her co-stars) were asking me ‘So, what did you think of this or that?’ I look at it from an audience perspective… This show is made at the edit table, so some things can catch you by surprise.”
Neelam said they have a blast on the series but it is a lot of work.
“You are putting your life and families out there. Even though the shooting goes on for 30 days or so, it plays on your mind constantly till the show comes out. It’s a bit unnerving at times. I’m probably the last person to watch it because I feel conscious.
“I feel odd watching myself. There’s a part of me that is also petrified about what others are saying about me… They don’t show us the show (before its premiere), they don’t tell us what’s going on. I’m on episode seven, I still haven’t completed it.”
Bhavana, wife of actor Chunky Pandey, said she has become “more comfortable” with watching herself on screen.
Maheep said they didn’t expect the series to become such a rage.
“Season one was just a game for us. We didn’t know the show was going to blow up like this. I didn’t really see season two because the pressure was on. Season three, yes, I saw for homework and also to hear what the Delhi girls have to say about us.”
Do they want more seasons?
The answer from Neelam was a resounding “Hell yeah!”
“I want the show to go on till I have dentures and they are falling out, and I can still have fun with these three,” Seema said.
“I want to work with my friends whenever we can,” Bhavana said.
“This is our show, we take it very personally. Hoping we go on for many, many seasons,” added Maheep. (PTI)
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