Karan Johar revealed that the idea for his show Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives came to him on the way to a condolence meeting. The show stars Maheep Kapoor, Bhavana Pandey, Seema Khan and Neelam Kothari. Johar was one a flight to Delhi with the four, all on their way to a condolence meeting for a friend's father.
Karan said that he always knew they had 'crazy personalities' but realised during the trip that the need their own show.
During a reunion of the show on Clubhouse, moderated by Janice Sequeira, Karan said about the trip, "These four ladies are very special to me and have been for nearly two-and-a-half decades. But I want to tell you, the origin of this show happened on a flight. We took a flight to Delhi, we were actually going for a condolence meeting. One of our friends lost their father. We were on a flight to Delhi and that’s when I realised, and I have always known it, that these four women are completely crazy."
He added that they were all discussing their attires for the function. "… whether Neelam had too much shine on her white kurta or whether Maheep was underdressed for a chautha. It was inappropriate and it was idiotic and it was so much fun that I said that the four of them have to be on a show."
They made something even like a chautha sound like such a massive problem in what they were wearing to what was happening. And it was like they were talking nonsense. And then when we reached, we had to play-act that we were really sad, and on our flight back, we were talking rubbish,Karan Johar, Clubhouse session with moderator Janice Sequeira.
He added that, as a result of this experience, he decided that they all needed to be in front of a camera. "I thought that barring Neelam, who is a bona fide star and has faced the camera for 40 films, the other three were technically virgins to the camera and I think they were naturals," he said.
Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, released on Netflix on 27 November 2020. The show follows the personal and professional lives of these four 'Bollywood wives' of actors Sanjay Kapoor, Sohail Khan, Samir Soni, and Chunky Pandey. The show has also been renewed for a second season.
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