Entertainment

We Got Real-Life Bollywood Talent Agents to Review a New Netflix Show on Bollywood Talent Agents

They handle some of the biggest stars and the biggest dramas in the world. But does “Call My Agent: Bollywood” do justice to their lives?
call my agent bollywood
Photo courtesy Netflix

Bollywood, the industry that produces the highest number of films in the world annually, continues to hold sway in shaping public opinion, sparking controversy, and being the butt of a gazillion jokes. Whether it was the recent arrest of a superstar’s son in a drugs-on-cruise case, or actors receiving bizarre threats like their noses being chopped off, the lives of Bollywood stars are ready fodder for enough drama to keep a country of around 1.2 billion people enthralled. 

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Behind the Lynchian drama that Bollywood stars find themselves pulled into on a daily basis is a whole world of agents trying their best to ensure that this carefully crafted edifice of stardom doesn’t come crashing down. Their job is to fight tooth and nail to get their stars on the poshest magazine covers, the grandest films possible, and the most lucrative brand endorsements. Naturally, it is an extremely competitive job with too many moving parts that can rapidly spin out of control. 

Adapted from a French comedy series of the same name, a new Netflix series, Call My Agent: Bollywood, attempts to get into the heart of the world of Bollywood talent agents. Through the fictitious story of a talent agency that finds its future in jeopardy following the sudden demise of its charismatic founder, we see four talent agents from the company putting everything on the line for the stars whose careers they manage – even if it means pulling celebrity coups, toying with balance sheets and sorting out petty fights on film sets. 

But does the series do justice to talent agents’ lives and the many dramas the job comes with? We got three real-life Bollywood talent agents, who have worked with a range of celebrities, to review the show for us. 

Divvya Nandrajog, co-founder, Focus PR

Divvya Nandrajog

Photo courtesy Divvya Nandrajog

Nandrajog co-founded a Bollywood media PR agency and has managed actors including Amol Parashar, Satish Kaushik, Sharad Kelkar and, formerly, Aahana Kumra, who also stars in the Netflix show.

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The cinematography is beautiful. It gets the aesthetics right for sure. The sense of our world will come across very well to those not acquainted with it. In terms of the characters, visually, their portrayals are all too perfect to be true. While I understand that they have to show the glamorous aspect because it’s a show, we are not so decked out all the time, as most of the time we are just rushing and hustling. 

But I really liked how they have shown the personal connection with the actors that we have. It's true. We are literally with them throughout the day, from the time they wake up, to the interviews and the shoots, telling them what to say and what not to. The support system came across very well. 

My biggest bone to pick is that in terms of pitching for a project, the process shown in the show was a little shaky. The show definitely shows the situation, but it never shows the gears behind the scenes. It’s all very situational. The whole backend pitching is central to our work. Our work is purely pitching and ensuring the positioning or marketing for our actors is bang on. Situational handling is just on-ground and the last step. But the whole ideation – how to formulate a pitch to clients, the media and filmmakers – is never shown. That’s the tough bit. To even get that one script or film for an actor is a task in itself. It would have been good if they had highlighted this back-end process. Even if they had put it in just one of the episodes or stories, it would’ve been good enough.

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Anushree Kirtikar, head of reputation management, Raindrop Media

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Kirtikar handles the digital vertical and oversees talent management of the publicity and marketing company. Some of their talents include actors Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Katrina Kaif, Sonu Sood and Kareena Kapoor Khan, director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and director-choreographer Farah Khan Kunder, who also stars in the show.

I am a fan of the original French series. I have always loved the way the characters were fleshed out, and the subtle comedy and satire really make it worth the watch. As someone who is in the thick of the action behind the camera, I was really looking forward to watching the Bollywood adaptation. This was relatable and hit pretty close to home. Rajat Kapoor was very convincing as Monty Behl, the mastermind agent. The exaggerated versions of the celebrities who play themselves lend some hilarious moments to the show. The casting was absolutely on-point and the characters were brilliantly fleshed-out. The scene in which Monty Behl finally accepts Nia as his daughter was an emotional one for me; there was something raw and real about them bonding and catching up on life.

Rishabh Nahar, vice president of creator management at OML Entertainment Pvt Ltd

Photo courtesy Rishabh Nahar

Photo courtesy Rishabh Nahar

Nahar works on scaling business for talents and strategising brand partnerships. Some of their talents include comedians Tanmay Bhat, Samay Raina and Kanan Gill, writer Shaheen Bhatt, and director Debbie Rao.

The show’s portrayal of how we stick to our talents no matter what was spot on. Our job is to bridge the gap between art and business in a way where both of them benefit from each other. If, at any point, we take advantage of our client’s projects, they won’t come to us. We under-promise but over-deliver. But in the first episode itself, an agent withholds critical information that she’s lost a Hollywood project for a day, not even sharing it with her own core team. This is absolutely a no-go in reality. In Call My Agent, they were purely focused on getting the money in. They were agency-first and not artist-first. 

In one of the scenes, the agent snaps at the director on set. The way in which the communication happened was quite bizarre. Regardless of how big the agent or even the talent might be, no one would use that tone. And this happened in the first meeting itself. This sort of arm-twisting never happens in your very first encounter. Personally, in my eight years in the industry, I have never done this. We’ve worked with the likes of John Oliver and Hasan Minhaj, and this doesn’t happen even there. In the show, we also see agents within the same company fighting and sabotaging each other. After that, it was a no-brainer; I knew the company was going to sink.

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