Mouni Roy, Emraan Hashmi and Naseeruddin Shah provide a sneak peek into the dark side of Bollywood, laced with stories of nepotism and changing power dynamics, in the teaser of Disney+ Hotstar and Dharmatic Entertainment’s upcoming series Showtime, dropped by the makers on Wednesday.

The 50-second-long teaser introduces Emraan, Mahima Makwana, Mouni and Naseeruddin as industry insiders grappling with fame, internal politics and dark secrets. As the camera rolls for action, we see the star cast going about their daily routine of shooting, attending promotional events and greeting fans.

Emraan, who plays the ‘Badshaah of Bollywood’, mentions in the teaser that in today’s film industry, every “outsider” wants to become an “insider” under the veneer of nepotism. “Nepotism ke mukhaute ke peeche aakhir mein har outsider insider banna chahta hai,” he says, before it cuts to scenes of protest and boycott calls against a young actor.

Mouni plays an actor-dancer in the series. The teaser shows Naseeruddin’s character confessing that cinema is not a business but a religion for him and expressing grief over the dilapidated condition of the industry.

Sharing the teaser on Instagram, Karan Johar wrote, “Welcome to world which functions on - lights, camera & action!🎬Entangled in struggle for power, Showtime is a web series that will draw boundaries…only to cross them.”

Created by Sumit Roy, Showtime is directed by Mihir Desai and Archit Kumar. The series will mark Disney+ Hotstar and Dharmatic Entertainment’s second collaboration after Karan’s celebrity chat show, Koffee With Karan, which is currently streaming on the platform.

Showtime will premiere on Disney+ Hotstar next year. However, the exact date has not been announced yet.