Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo series review: Dimple Kapadia anchors this quirky, uneven series

Dimple Kapadia in ‘Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo’ | Photo Credit: YouTube/DisneyPlus Hotstar

in the iconic opening shot of Gangs Of Wasseypur – Part 1 (2012), playing a television screen because the mother-in-law was also a daughter-in-law once Shattered by incoming bullets. The scene served as a mission statement: gangs This is going to be a family saga like no other. Now after 11 years, Mother-in-law, daughter-in-law and the flamingo Something with its title seems to indicate the same. The series – directed by Homi Adajania and streaming on Disney+Hotstar – is also about a family engaged in illegal trade. The only difference is that on the contrary Anurag KashyapA bloodthirsty epic of lusty coal smugglers, the protagonists in this show are women. Imagine if Nagma, Mohsina and Shama run a secret drug cartel that Sardar Khan, Faizal and Danish had no knowledge about.

SavitriDimple Kapadia) runs the ‘Rani Co-operative’, which produces handicrafts and medicinal herbs. She is the matriarch and godmother of the women of Hastipur, a fictional frontier town in northwest India. The Co-op, we quickly learn, is a cover; Savitri’s real business is cocaine. He is assisted in his operations by his daughter, Shanta (Radhika Madan), and two daughters-in-law, Kajal (Angira Dhar) and Bijli (Isha Talwar). When an adulterated version of their signature ‘Flamingo’ product puts a politician’s son in a coma, Savitri realizes there’s a hell of a price to pay. Various vultures come circling, including deadpan anti-narcotics officer Proshun (Jimit Trivedi) and a dead-eyed rival named ‘Munk’ (Deepak Dobriyal).

An early ambush that Savitri and her troupe successfully thwart at their mansion – fighting with knives, vases and random trinkets – indicates the revisionist stance the series is prepared to take. Yet, as it progresses, we realize Mother-in-law, daughter-in-law and the flamingo The Daily Soap is drawing more attention than it is criticizing. Savitri is addressed by her followers as ‘Rani Baa’ (could have been an alternate title for the show Ba, Bahu and Kiwi, When her sons – oblivious corporate employees from America – arrive for Janmashtami, the series turns into a succession drama. Some interpersonal rivalries are much like a TV soap opera; Savitri also has an adopted son, not unlike Tulsi Virani because,

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Homi and his writers try very hard to shake off this sense of belonging. Bijli and her husband (Ashish Verma, out of a pleasant mood) are cheating on each other; He is in a homosexual relationship with a DJ from Mumbai. Shanta and Dhiman (Udit Arora, the above mentioned third son) are sexually and emotionally involved. A reference, perhaps, to the incestuous relationship between Cersei and Jaime Lannister. game of Thrones, However, unlike those spirited twins, Shanta and Dhiman are not blood siblings – that’s about as far as Indian streaming platforms are set to go in 2023.

So, technology and globalization are all the more tempting in this granular borderline drama. This is classic homie territory; A well-travelled Bombay boy, he is best at bridging the distances between urban, semi-urban and metropolitan India. Updating pager from gangs of wasseypur, his characters walk around with headphones, smartwatches and VR headsets. We see money laundering through cryptocurrency. In a touching detail, Savitri surveys the stars at night with an expensive-looking telescope. He has taught himself English; Her kids can get around her without using phrases like ‘Catch-22’ and ‘Shoot the messenger’.

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Kapadia holds the show together. She portrays Savitri as ductile but tough, her firmness and tenacity indicated by how she stamps candles by hand. Isha Talwar as Bijli matches her lived-in ferocity; I can’t say the same about Madan and Dhar’s performances. The series is amusing for its mollycoddled (in a funny way) of fragile male egos. Savitri’s younger son (Varun Mitra) learns that she runs a multimillion empire, “I kept sending $500 to mom every month.” Kajal reassures her, saying, “It is all the same in mother’s eyes.”

Everything doesn’t work. There are deadlocks and deaths (especially near the end) that seem farfetched. The interlude where we learn Savitar’s backstory is perhaps the most engrossing in the series. The route is notable for its simplicity; Homi, for once, isn’t trying to be amusing or dress up the scenes with witty embellishments. Trouble is, it’s his innate weirdness that marks him as a filmmaker. We want him to learn how to tell his stories straight. But we also want scenes where a cop chases a dog with a bitten hand in its mouth.