Drugs, guns, violence, family politics, rustic locales — Homi Adajania’s OTT debut Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo ticks off all the boxes of a quintessential Indian crime drama. But what sets it apart is the army of spartan women calling the shots, making each scene gripping and deadly.
Streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, the eight-episode show marks the fifth collaboration between Adajania and leading actor Dimple Kapadia. From Being Cyrus (2006), Cocktail (2012), Finding Fanny (2014), Angrezi Medium (2020) to Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo, the filmmaker sure knows how to extract the best out of the veteran actor’s versatility. It wouldn’t be unfair to say that it is Kapadia’s best work under Adajania’s direction. Be it the power-packed action sequences or the emotionally-charged scenes, Kapadia’s charm is hard to ignore.
A women-led crime saga
The plot is set in the backdrop of the nondescript town of Runjh, with an eerie resemblance to Rajasthan. In the opening scenes, Bijli (Isha Talwar) arrives at the scanty, miserable-looking Runjh airport. As she sits inside her expensive SUV, the camera pans to a cluster of disposable phones in her lap. She makes multiple calls from each phone during her long journey to Hastipur — a village housing a global handicraft cooperative, but with zero mobile connectivity. When Bijli reaches the ‘haveli’ (as the cooperative is locally called) and makes her way through the massive courtyard into an ironclad door with half a dozen locks, a new world emerges.
What lies beneath the ground is a covert drug racket run mostly by women. As the trailer had revealed, these women — under the leadership of their matriarch Savitri (Kapadia) — make the best ‘flamingo’ (pseudonym for cocaine in the show) in the entire country. Savitri runs a company named ‘Rani Cooperative’, selling handicrafts and organic pain-relief herbs, also a cover for her drug cartel. Her daughters-in-law Bijli and Kajal (Angira Dhar) handle the finances and operational aspects of the business, while her daughter Shanta (Radhika Madaan) is the scientific and technical brain behind the drug production.
All this while, her sons — Kapil (Varun Mitra) and Harish (Ashish Verma) — who are due to return from overseas for a break – are oblivious to the massive family drug business. For them, it is a simple saas-bahu household running a homegrown textile business.
As the skeletons tumble out of the closets and mayhem ensues, the show moves into fourth gear with characters fighting for power and claiming their worth.
While the ferocity and drama engage, the raw and unapologetic action sequences with women thrashing men make for some of the defining scenes in the web series.
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Complex characters, thrilling plot
As is the case with most long-format crime drama-thrillers, Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo also wobbles in the middle episodes but thankfully, it takes a heartbeat for the director to recover from it and bring in something interesting and unexpected the very next minute.
Adajania is known for creating complex and layered female characters, and his Disney+ Hostar show is no different. His Savitri is staunch and fearless, his Kajal quiet but tenacious, and his Shanta short-tempered but sharp. The small female army that guards Savitri’s operations almost mimics The Black Panther’s ‘Dora Milaje’ (a team of powerful women who constitute Wakanda’s special forces) and is an absolute delight to witness while in action.
Talwar and Dhar, who play the daughters-in-law, blend seamlessly into their roles. Madaan, who has worked with Adajania in Angrezi Medium, does a fine job but brings nothing new to the table. Her character seems like an exaggeration of her previous roles and performances.
While the women dominate as characters and actors, the men do a fine job supporting them. But the only one who shines in some moments is Deepak Dobriyal (who plays the antagonist named Monk). Although it takes some time to get used to his all-black robes and appearance inspired by Agneepath’s Kancha Cheena, the actor manages to leave a mark.
Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo is not your average Indian crime drama. As Adajania puts it, it is “family politics on steroids”, which is not for the faint-hearted.
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)