The new Indian series “Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo” streaming on Disney+Hotstar, promises a wild ride, and it certainly delivers on that front. The premise of the show is intriguing: a matriarch named Rani Baa (Dimple Kapadia) runs a meth-making business called “Flamingo” with the women of the family leading the charge, while the men are hapless outsiders. However, the show’s eight-episode narrative lacks consistency, and its indulgent treatment and predilection to trip over its own excesses prove to be its undoing.
The show’s director, Homi Adajania, is known for taking tried-and-tested formulas and turning them on their heads, which is why the series was highly anticipated. The female-led cast is impressive, with Radhika Madan, Isha Talwar, and Angira Dhar playing strong female characters. However, the male characters are not as fleshed out, with Udit Arora’s character being the only one with any substance.
The setting of the show in Runjh Pradesh provides a brutal and lawless landscape where blood is spilt without a thought, and betrayal is part of the game. The context and characters are spot-on, and the sweeping landscape is beautifully captured. However, the series suffers from a man’s viewpoint of a story built around women, which is often flawed and pretentious.
The show’s portrayal of women’s empowerment is rooted in sensationalism, with scenes like Radhika Madan’s entry scene showing her orgasming with virtual reality goggles doing very little to explain who Shanta is. The show’s myopic understanding of its women is only rooted in their sexual lives, rather than focusing on sisterhood or soul.
The series is binge-worthy, especially when its women run amuck, pulling the strings, and showing the men exactly how things need to be done. Dimple Kapadia is outstanding as Rani Baa, while Deepak Dobriyal is impressive as her dead-eyed rival. Of the rest, Isha Talwar, Ashish Verma, and Udit Arora make an impression.
In the end, “Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo” tries to be quirky, dysfunctional, sensationalist, edgy, crooked, and badass, but the excess ultimately works against it. A good story is what the series needs, and the narrative’s inconsistency takes the joy out of what could have been a heady watch.