Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan is making his Bollywood debut this month with the forthcoming Netflix series, which has already made headlines for the staggering number of cameos it features.
However, contrary to popular expectations, the 27-year-old is making his debut not as an actor but as writer and director of The Ba****ds of Bollywood, a seven-part series described as a “playful roast and toast to Bollywood”.
Khan shares writing credits with Bilal Siddiqi and Manav Chauhan, and the series is produced by his mother Gauri Khan, under her production house Red Chillies Entertainment.
The Ba****ds of Bollywood has become one of the most talked-about streaming launches of the year not only because of Khan’s pedigree, but also because it seems to be tackling the subject most associated with his family name: nepotism.
The trailer was released on Monday and immediately generated a fair bit of conversation on social media because of the parade of brief star turns in it. The video features cameo appearances from major figures in the industry including actors Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, and Salman Khan, Telugu filmmaker S S Rajamouli, alongside a raft of familiar faces.
Bollywood. Starring Bollywood ✨#TheBadsOfBollywoodOnNetflix pic.twitter.com/SG9KVLrrqV
— Netflix India (@NetflixIndia) September 8, 2025
The Ba****ds of Bollywood will follow Aasmaan Singh, played by Lakshya, an aspiring actor whose breakthrough comes when he is cast opposite a superstar’s daughter, Karishma, played by Sahher Bambba.
At the launch of the trailer, Khan described wanting to build a world “that feels alive, a mix of glitz and grit, where ambition shines, egos clash, and nothing is ever as it seems”, according to an NDTV report.
Reactions to the trailer have been mixed, with some viewers enjoying the ironic parade of cameos, while others have pointed out that most of the buzz around The Ba****ds of Bollywood has centred on its guest stars rather than the series itself, the very criticism centred in long-running debates about nepotism, where the children of stars are seen to prosper in the industry because of inherited access rather than merit.
“Even the most celebrated outsider has to suffer from useless nepokids, his own,” said one person on X, formerly Twitter, referring to the fact that Shah Rukh Khan himself worked his way up in the industry with no connections.
“What a lot of takes on this will miss is that they KNOW people will point out the hypocrisy of a nepobaby making series on a targeted outsider, and that it will generate discourse about being derivative,” said another.
the 30 second SRK cameo in the bads of Bollywood trailer is keeping me going pic.twitter.com/XWLuAVGxL2
— asia (@eurasia1975) September 9, 2025
Hope the series is filled with these quirky industry moments.
— Cinemaan (@maihucinemaan) September 8, 2025
Cause it's only here one can see Aryan Khan's first hand experience coming into play.
Baaki the action & Aasman's story kinda feels generic. Let's see...#BadsOfBollywood pic.twitter.com/03QEfkwCJo
“Looks cliched but solid entertainment. Easter eggs to be found. Familiar faces to be spotted. Should be fun if Aryan Khan put it well together. Triple cameo by Khans is spectacular. After 30yrs of rivalry they are willing to support one another and their kids,” said a fan, referring to Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, and Salman Khan, arguably Bollywood’s biggest stars since the 1990s.
Looks cliched but solid entertainment. Easter eggs to be found. Familiar faces to be spotted. Should be fun if Aryan Khan put it well together.
— Aleksandra (@oila2015) September 9, 2025
Triple cameo by Khans is spectacular. After 30yrs of rivarly they are willing to support one another and their kids. #Badsofbollywood https://t.co/VAuo9B27re pic.twitter.com/yTOrinVGDk
In a 2019 appearance on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman, Shah Rukh Khan explained that Aryan was not likely to act, because of the inevitable comparison to his father.
“He doesn't have what it takes to be an actor and he realises that too but he’s a good writer. I think wanting to be an actor has to come from within,” Khan said. “He came to me and said, ‘I don't think I want to act.’ His issue was, which I is think is practical and honest, he said, ‘Every time I'll be compared to you and I don't want to be in that position.’”
In 2021, Aryan was arrested and spent 26 days in jail for allegedly doing recreational drugs at a cruise ship party. All charges were dropped later with India’s federal drug agency Narcotics Control Bureau citing a “lack of sufficient evidence” as the months-long investigation yielded no proof of wrongdoing.
The Ba****ds of Bollywood will be available for streaming on Netflix on 18 September.
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