A change of scene: Deepanjana Pal writes on Ba***ds of Bollywood and Humans in the Loop

Both new releases open up imaginary worlds, ones that are much like our own. But it is the indie film that leaves one unusually hopeful.

Last week, debutant director Aryan Khan’s show The Ba***ds of Bollywood (BoB) landed on Netflix, and the Film Federation of India (FFI) announced Homebound (2025), directed by Neeraj Ghaywan, would be India’s submission for the Best International Feature Film at the Oscars.

In Humans in the Loop, AI is shown to be an empowering agent. That AI is controlled by corpor-ations with questionable agendas is acknowle-dged, but the film focuses more on what AI could mean for those who are invisibilised.

To be India’s pick for the Oscars means Ghaywan’s film is considered good enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best from around the globe, on an international stage. Not that streaming platforms are the equivalent of the Oscars, but the arrival of companies such as Disney+, Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video was supposed to herald a new era when Indian entertainment would soar unshackled and vie with foreign counterparts.

A decade later, the disappointing reality is that qualitatively, few Indian shows hold their own next to international fare. We make our peace with this by holding Indian content to a different yardstick. For instance, it’s enough that BoB is better than the unwatchable Call My Agent: Bollywood (2021). So what if it lacks the storytelling smarts of shows like Entourage (2004-2011), Extras (2005-2007) or The Studio (2025-)?

BoB stands apart from most shows about the movie business because it is not enamoured either by movie-making or the glamour associated with it. Instead, the show is interested in the egos that characterise the Indian film industry, which could have been entertaining if it had better writing. While bits of BoB work and Boobians (the fanbase of the actor Bobby Deol) should feel appeased, for the most part, the show is about as credible as the submarine chase in Parvarish (1977) while being half as fun.

Much of BoB feels like a Nineties’ Bollywood film because of how it makes space for exhibitions of machismo and misogyny. Khan attempts to justify this creative call with the final twist in his show. Whether or not you’re convinced by BoB’s meta-ness, there’s no justifying the incoherent characterisation — why does Aasmaan (Lakshya) punch Ajay (Bobby Deol) at the awards show? — or appalling details, like the reductive way domestic workers are used in the script.

BoB becomes interesting only if one casts an analytical eye on the show’s imaginary elements. For instance, Khan’s portrayal of fatherhood and the moralistic stand the show takes on monogamy is likely to make the heads of armchair psychologists spin. Unlike his real-life counterparts, the ageing superstar Ajay radiates menace and has a nefarious side. With his tattoos and devil-may-care aggression, he comes across as the exact opposite of the polite and compliant superstars of today.

Set aside the inadequacies of its storytelling, and BoB feels revealing. Khan’s Bollywood teems with callous characters, and at its heart is a story of how people lose control over their own narrative. So much for popular entertainment being an escapist refuge.

In contrast, it’s the indie film Humans in the Loop (HitL, 2024) that holds out an imaginary that is an optimistic flight of fantasy. Director Aranya Sahay’s film about a mother and daughter finding their way to each other is not just brilliant in terms of storytelling, but also offers an unusual perspective on artificial intelligence (AI).

In HitL, Nehma (Sonal Madhushankar) is an adivasi and a single mother whose lifeline is her job as a data annotator. Sahay shows AI to be an empowering agent. That AI is controlled by corporations with questionable agendas is acknowledged, but the film focuses more on what AI could mean for those who are invisibilised.

AI makes it possible for Nehma to provide for her family and lets her stamp her presence upon a world that doesn’t acknowledge her existence until she forces it to do so. Realistically, Nehma’s acts of rebellion would likely have led to her getting fired, but in the fictional world of HitL, it brings Nehma to the centre. AI changes, and for the better.

Both BoB and HitL depict an imaginary world whose roots are in reality. Yet it’s the indie film that steals mainstream entertainment’s thunder by creating the more hopeful imaginary. Imagine that!

(To reach Deepanjana Pal with feedback, write to @dpanjana on Instagram. The views expressed are personal)