Featuring Gauahar and Nigaar Khan, Khan Sisters was inspired by Keeping Up with the Kardashians and it gave the audience a never before access to celebrity lives.
The Kardashians have taken over our Instagram feeds, thanks to the latest episode of their reality show that feature the opulence-defining Ambani wedding and snippets from their trip to Mumbai, in July last year. While the internet is going gaga over the recent episodes, it reminded me of Khan Sisters - our desi version of Keeping Up with the Kardashians! The reality TV show that aired on UTV Bindass during the winter of 2012, became an instant hit among the channel's youth audience and created waves in the Indian television industry.
If you're a 90s or early 2000s kid, remember the phase of your life where you had become too cool for your Roald Dahls and Ruskin Bonds? When your hairstyles and dresses were showing signs of your growing rebel phase as Cartoon Network, Disney and Pogo were getting replaced by Chanel V, MTV, and UTV Bindass, adding to the frowns of our traditional families? I’m sure I speak for a lot of people, especially girls my age, when I say that Khan Sisters had a major influence over us during that phase. We were completely obsessed with the show and it had become a key part of our discussions during lunch breaks at school and on our freshly created social media accounts.
Khan Sisters presented the viewers a look into the lives of actor-model sisters - Gauahar and Nigaar Khan. The series explored the sisters’ personal and professional lives in Mumbai, Delhi, and Dubai. It was a bold departure from the conventional themes of reality television in India as it gave the viewers access to the sisters’ private routines, their intimate conversations with family and friends, and behind the scenes of their acting and modeling assignments.
The show was light-hearted, funny, and a major stressbuster that humanized the two celebrities, showing their relatable daily struggles while also giving the viewers unprecedented access to their glamorous lives. It was loaded with entertainment as the drama, petty sibling fights and humorous moments rounded off the majority of episodes. Khan Sisters also contributed to the growing fascination with celebrity lifestyles, reflecting the global popularity of shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians while also influencing how audiences perceived celebrities in general. The show proved to be a catalyst in increasing the viewers’ interest in reality shows that gave more intimate access to rich and famous people's lives and its success assured the producers that the concept, which was already doing wonders in the West, reamins a hit among the Indian audience as well.
The next few years saw the boom of the OTT platforms in India and with it came a wave of unconventional content with limited to no restrictions. This, in turn, paved the way to carry forward this concept in a way that was bolder, entertaining, and without any filters, encouraging big production houses to try their hands with this theme. Fabulous Lives Of Bollywood Wives is a good example of it.
Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, backed by Karan Johar first premiered in 2020 and became a rage in no time. The show aimed at showcasing its viewers, as the name suggests, the lavish lives that the rich and famous wives of Bollywood celebrities lead. Beyond their dreamy lives, their juicy gossip sessions, mean comments and fighting made this one an out-and-out entertainer. Khan Sisters was a bold and successful experiment, that green-lit the concept of reality shows exploring the personal lives of the rich and famous in India. And as we say in popular lingo, Khan Sisters walked, so FLOBW could run…successfully in India.
And this brings us to why content like this works so well today. Are we obsessed with celebrities in India? Do we want to know more about celebrity lives because they seem so much more entertaining, unattainable and full of unrelatable drama? Or do we just lack good content today? Who knows! For now, all we're looking forward to is yet another celebrity show that shows us what Deepika Padukone's kitchen looks like!
Have you watched Khan Sisters? Let us know what you think of the show in the comments below!
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