Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, that follows the lives and explores the friendship of Bollywood wives Maheep Kapoor, Seema Khan, Neelam and Bhavana Pandey, has met with mixed feedback but the curiosity factor it comes with means that the show has been topping the Netflix charts ever since it released in end-November. we chat with Maheep (who is married to actor Sanjay Kapoor) and Seema (wife of actor-director Sohail Khan).

What’s the best feedback that’s come your way for the show?

Maheep Kapoor: In these two weeks, there has been so much love, I have a constant adrenaline rush... I need to calm myself down. I have got feedback from some very unexpected quarters... some people have literally crawled out of the woodwork to call me up and tell me how much they laughed and enjoyed the show, how real I was....

Year 2020 has been so depressing, I think it’s good to make people laugh. That’s been the biggest compliment... that people have laughed and enjoyed the show and not taken it too seriously. We didn’t know how people would receive it but the love has been unreal. I have noted down every compliment that’s come in in my diary, I don’t want to forget this moment. Seasons 2,3,4, if they happen, they will happen... but Season 1 will always be special. I want to be able to tell my grandkids, ‘Listen, your grandma was cool!’

Seema Khan: It’s been very overwhelming. Many have told me how they binge-watched the show and some are even watching it on repeat. The younger girls have connected with me in terms of my fashion and the older women identify, in some ways, with my life. I’ve been really surprised by the reactions. I am still soaking it
all in.

How nervous were you about reactions before the show dropped?

Maheep: Very nervous! We didn’t go looking for the show... the show came to us. My first reaction was, ‘Oh my God! Will people make fun of me?’ But I spoke to my children (Shanaya and Jahan) and my husband (Sanjay Kapoor), and Shanaya told me, ‘Listen mom, life is too short... you have to live this adventure. You are doing this with your friends and you have stories to tell’. Jahan is a boy of few words... he just told me, ‘You don’t say no to Dharmatic and Netflix’. Sanjay asked me if I was thick-skinned enough to bear being trolled. But once I spoke to my friends, we decided to do it together. It actually turned out to be a liberating experience. I am so happy with all the compliments. And I don’t really care about the negative people who are laughing and talking behind my back... good for them, it’s okay.

Seema: It’s really funny how we were offered the show. We were on a flight with Karan (Johar, the show’s producer) and he just looked at us and said, ‘Listen, I am making a show with the four of you’. And we just laughed it off and said, ‘As if!’ And a few months later, when it actually happened, I was like, ‘Is this for real?!’ I’ve never done this before, I have never desired to be in front of the camera. And I really wanted my kids to be okay with it. My older son Nirvaan told me that this kind of an opportunity doesn’t come to everyone. I also said, ‘Chalo, if nothing, I will have a story to tell’. So I went in to have a good time and that’s what I did. I had a blast!

What’s the reaction from your families been like?

Maheep: My sister-in-law Sunita said that she felt like she was in my living room and watching us... she knows how the four of us are. I thought my mother-in-law would say, ‘Beta, why are you swearing so much?’ Luckily, she enjoyed it. My mum and dad were, of course, focused on the grandkids. But overall, they are all proud of me.

Seema: Nirvaan is very proud of me and that means my job is done... my child is proud of me. He now thinks that girls rock! (Laughs)

Was there anything that you were particularly apprehensive about?

Maheep: When you sit and joke with your friends in a closed room, it’s a different story. We were worried about how people would take it outside. So I told the crew that if I say something without thinking, then they should stop me right there. I didn’t want to come across as being insensitive to anyone or hurt any feelings.

Seema: When the trailer came out, I went into full panic mode because I am a hyper person by nature. I kept thinking, ‘What will people think about this and that’. I knew people would watch it but I didn’t expect the reactions I got to my personality. There was no role and no character, people just got to see me.

Seema Khan. Sourced by The Telegraph

Maheep, you’ve said that the last few weeks have been an adrenaline rush. But that’s who you are, given you were the one with the most energy on the show...

Maheep: Listen, this is me! If I had to act, this would never work because I am a terrible actress! (Laughs) I have done half a film (‘Shivam’, which got shelved) and I can say with full confidence that I can’t act. You let me do what I want and say what I want and I am totally okay.

Did the four of you sit and discuss what was for public consumption and what wasn’t or did you go in full throttle?

Maheep: We did discuss things about how we wouldn’t hurt each other on the show. But everything on the show was very real. There was no script and no acting. We had each others’ backs on the show. The idea was that women across the world should identify with all of us, or at least with one of us. It was important to show female bonding... we can bitch about each other but essentially we are there for each other.

Seema: The four of us tend to lend our guard down when we are with each other. For a woman, her girl tribe is her safe space, and that’s what it’s like with us. We were always close, we’ve weathered pretty turbulent times together. We know each other too well, we’ve had our babies one after another. But we couldn’t decide what we would say and not say because we were told what to do only on the day of shoot. They just captured us as is.

Was there anything specific that you enjoyed shooting?

Maheep: Le Bal (the debutante ball and fashion event in Paris to which Shanaya was invited and which was filmed in Episode 1 of the show) will always be special. It’s documented for life. I told Shanaya, ‘How amazing is that!’ And, of course, the last scene which had Shah Rukh (Khan) and Gauri. We have all been friends for 25-26 years now and our children were there with us... that was a very special moment on the show.

Seema: I was like, ‘Oh my God, all our madness is out for the world to see!’ I was intimidated by the camera for about five minutes but after that we were ourselves. I don’t think I have laughed so hard in a very long time. We were constantly laughing... that, for me, was the best part of the show.

Will there be more seasons?

Maheep: I am hoping there will be, but Netflix has to tell us that. Fingers crossed!

Seema: If Netflix is on, I am on!

Does this mean seeing you more in front of the camera, apart from Fabulous Lives...?

Maheep: I am a very bad actress, so anyone who signs me has to do it at their own risk! I don’t see myself acting at all. I am sure people will make kachumbar out of me!

Seema: I can’t read lines and stuff. I don’t know how to act to save my life! It’s not on the agenda at all.