It’s mid-afternoon and entrepreneur Kalyani Saha Chawla, in a white Zara shirt and Golden Goose jeans, is all business and bustle at her store in Defence Colony. And she’s looking none the worse for wear after participating in the Fabulous Lives v/s Bollywood Wives that is being talked of more for the Delhi-versus-Mumbai-divide than a reality show where anyone’s image has taken a beating.
Season 3 continues with the uber-rich and glamorous lives of Maheep Kapoor, wife of actor Sanjay Kapoor, and Bhavana Panday, wife of actor Chunky Panday and mother of Ananya Panday. Keeping them company are ’80s ‘It Girl’ Neelam Kothari, now wife of actor Samir Soni, and Seema Sajdeh, former wife of Sohail Khan. This time, however, the series makes Delhi part of the story. So, we have stars of Delhi’s social circuit such as Shalini Passi, a successful art, fashion and design patron, Kalyani Saha Chawla, founder of Rezon Luxury Silverware, and a luxury brand marketing specialist, and Riddhima Kapoor Sahni, daughter of the late Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor, break into reality TV and sit across each other in clothes that range from strange to designer-wear, passing comments on each other’s sartorial tastes, relationships, lifestyles.
Down the episodes they also discuss feelings of betrayal and other mental issues, and also take trips together in the city or out of town — but with no serious drawing of blood. But why would they? This is a bunch that know each other socially, and are part of each other’s networks. “Sure, at times, lines were crossed, but at the end of the day, the Mumbai girls are seasoned and they know the game. Riddhima is blue-blood Bollywood royalty and Shalini is superbly organised in her head,” says Chawla.
The ‘real’ in reality
Shalini Passi is undeniably the breakout star of the show. The founder of MASH India, a digital platform that explores the intersection of architecture, art, craft, design, and fashion, and wife of billionaire Sanjay Passi, she steals everyone’s thunder just by being herself. From singing with her Guruji in a yellow sari and a bejwelled head-band while female attendants in all-black co-ords listen to her instructions in between the Dharma songs to being cute with a giraffe during a Mauritius safari, she single-handedly entertains.
“I wanted to have fun by trying new things. I can laugh at myself! I wanted the scenes to be comical, which is why you see a Minnie Mouse-inspired bow on my head over a pink gown, or a headdress paired with a Cleopatra costume. I have always been like that,” she says. Her one-liners such as, ‘I don’t hold grudges against other people as it affects my skin’ have become meme-material, adding layers to her fame which she then shaves off to reveal other layers: “I used to stammer some 20 years ago. At that time, I was scared of speaking and coming on camera. But my one-liners had worked even then. During the pandemic, my friends would call me from Mumbai and tell me they were depressed. They would ask me ‘Tell us what you did,’ so that they could laugh heartily. They said it was better than any therapy,” she says, adding that she is just like any CBSE board schoolgirl from Delhi who speaks without an accent “in simple English”. And that makes her relatable in contrast to the polish in Maheep Kapoor or Neelam Kothari’s diction. So inadvertently, the Delhi-Mumbai division is a reference for all the women on the show.
The famous rivalry
And what are the stereotypes of this divide? That those from Delhi know the arts, but are over-the-top and pretentious, and their friendships are fake while those from Mumbai are upfront, casual to a fault, have genuine friendships and are borderline judgemental. The Mumbai girls are, therefore, seen admiring an Anish Kapoor artwork on Shalini’s walls and exclaiming over it as Anish Chopra. Costumes, too, dress up the ‘divide’; Kalyani is perhaps the only one to get the fashion mostly right. She is also the one who ‘got’ the theme of a party — to come dressed as a painting — by wearing a 2008 Dior dress in Impressionistic prints.
While Shalini, too, gets top marks for her dramatic Cleopatra ensemble with a big headgear and a dagger in her hands and a flowy Roberto Cavalli kaftan dress that she wore at her home while hosting the Mumbai team, she, too, does not fight shy of commenting: “Bombay takes things very casually while Delhi despite being modern will still hold onto its traditions and personal style. Also, traditions are subjective — for me, tradition could be celebrating a festival a certain way or keeping an heirloom for an occasion. But people today think that staying rooted is not cool anymore.”
Kalyani displays a certain self-possession all through the show. At the meeting with TMS, she says: “I’m not an influencer. I’m a taste-maker for an international audience. And I’ve been appreciated for my fashion and for showing my authentic self on the show. What I speak of on social media, I was that person on the show.”
Missing in action
Though the Delhi versus Mumbai rivalry is clear, the show lacks action — as if according to plan. There are no build-ups or serious clash of egos, no heated arguments, ditto for emotional reconciliations. Every difference of opinion is conveyed to the camera rather than to each other. For instance, Shalini does not hit back on being mocked for her lifestyle choices by the Mumbai group. She did call them out on their superficial lifestyle but only while speaking to the camera: “I’m not asking you why you colour your hair, wear fake extensions, fake nails, or lenses. So just let me be,” she says in the show.
Could this be that Indian reality shows are tuning onto the new trend in global reality television? That of being ‘ethical’ or pain-proof and that the two camps of villains and victims not being so chalk and cheese as before? Shalini explains her position: “There is no reason to fight, but since both cities are cosmopolitan — Mumbai is more glamorous because of the film industry while Delhi is associated with culture and art, there is comparison, but no competition. But both teams should try to understand each other more. They should give more time and space to each other. We’re too fast in judging people but relationships should be made for a lifetime, not just for a short period.”