How Fabulous Lives vs. Bollywood Wives Continues TV's Tradition of Pitting Women Against Each Other

The latest season adds three new Delhi girls to battle the OG Bollywood wives, Neelam Kothari (wife of Bollywood actor Samir Soni), Maheep Kapoor (wife of Bollywood actor Sanjay Kapoor), Bhavna Pandey (wife of Bollywood actor Chunky Pandey) and Seema Sajdeh (ex-wife of Bollywood actor Sohail Khan). The Delhi girls were Shalini Passi an art collector, Kalyani Saha Chawla, an entrepreneur and founder of the luxury silverware brand Razon and Riddhima Kapoor Sahni, sister of Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor.

Read: Shaming, Trolling, And Burnout: Inside The Lives Of Female Content Creators

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The show is likely to be classified as a cringe watch, which is to be taken lightly. But delving a bit deeper shows a common thread that connects a lot of such content. Catty confrontations and scripted heart-to-heart conversations, peppered with juicy piece-to-camera dialogues form the backbone of the show. For a show that also harps on the strength of friendship in some moments, the focus on pitting the women against each other is a bit jarring to watch. But the phenomenon of making content out of catfights and staging women against women is hardly new.

Bollywood Wives vs Delhi Girls

Through the show, the highlight moments captured through montages at the end of each episode giving a glimpse into the upcoming episodes harp on each of them being nasty to the others. From the never-ending Delhi vs Mumbai debates, to passing comments on each other’s attitudes, knowledge, clothes, relationships and everything else – the ‘highlight moments’ featured mostly women pitched against one another.

Shalini Passi, the show’s standout woman, differing from the rest due to her quirky fashion, and personality is endlessly picked on by the rest of the gang. Some hate the attention she gets. Riddhima at one point even gets annoyed that Shalini was getting asked more questions than her. Others mock her, often edge her on to sing or dance, and are constantly either judging or bewildered by her. There’s also endless commentary about her cleavage.

Shalini even acknowledged this in an interview with India Today, where she said said, “It’s very surprising. OTT culture is about attacking each other; it’s women against women. Everything is about clashing, and no one tries to bring them together because, for TRPs, they won’t. So, they told me that it was refreshing to see me, and I’m glad about that."

In the sections where the Delhi girls meet by themselves or the Bombay girls meet, they only discuss how they’re better than the other faction, or closer than the other.

She’d added, “Though I like to play the clown and have fun, over the years, I’ve realized that playing the clown comes from a very serious and secure place. My main purpose isn’t to throw a tantrum or make people feel bad for their actions, but to be effective in my life.”

Another strand they dissect right from the beginning is an undercurrent between Maheep and Seema. They even stage an intervention by first, their friend Neelam, and then director Karan Johar, to sort out their issues.

To sum it up, the show tries for eight episodes to get the Delhi girls and the Bollywood wives in the same celebrations, activities, and even a trip – to help them bond, but what comes out of it, is hardly any friendship.

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A similar show on Amazon Prime, called The Tribe, focuses on five young Indian influencers trying to make it big in Los Angeles – the global capital of entertainment. Here too, catfights form a core component of screen time. Just the trailer itself gives one a glimpse of how the show is likely to be.

Pitting Women Against Women is An Age Old Trope

Whether its the most rewatched fights on Bigg Boss, or TV soaps than span several years and generations on screen, women pitted against each other is a common trope.

Many TV soaps thrive on these dynamics, recycling familiar narratives of jealousy and betrayal among female characters across generations. The saas-bahu (mother-in-law vs. daughter-in-law) trope is a cornerstone of Indian television, with countless series dedicated to depicting ongoing tension between women

Even in reality shows like Bigg Boss or Splitsvilla, women fighting each other have sometimes raked in the highest amount of interest in the show, often becoming memes and viral trending moments online. One can recall Pooja Misra’s outburst on Bigg Boss season 5, that resulted in the viral “Pooja, what is this behaviour” memes. Shilpa Shinde and Hina Khan’s clashes in Bigg Boss 11 were also very popular. On Splitsvilla 12, fights between two contestants Aahana and Bhavya were widely talked about.

Read: Oddly Obsessed with Bigg Boss: Decoding Why the Chaotic Televised Circus Clicks

This isn’t restricted to Indian TV only. One of the most viral moments from Keeping Up With The Kardashians is Kim and Kourtney’s physical altercation in season 18.

In the end, these shows may provide mindless entertainment, but their insistence on fixating on drama through manufactured rivalries raises the question: can reality TV move beyond conflict to capture more authentic, empowering portrayals of women’s lives?