Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo Review: Dimple Kapadia, Isha Talwar and Radhika Madan's Series Isn't As Dope As You Want It To Be! (LatestLY Exclusive)

Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo Review: Homi Adajania's Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo has all the ingredients to be a trippy ride. There is a fine cast headed by a wonderful actress in Dimple Kapadia, with the fabulous Deepak Dobriyal and the fantabulous Naseeruddin Shah in supporting cast. Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo had quite a cool plotline, that of a matriarch and her daughter and daughters-in-law headlining a drug racket business and kicking ass in the process. However while the saas and the bahus are entertaining, the dosage of the 'flamingo' is not entirely upto the mark. Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo: Dimple Kapadia Gets Candid About Her Character and Social Taboos.

Savitri aka Raniba (Dimple Kapadia) heads her own drug-making business somewhere near the borders of Kutch in a fictional village. The success of her business, apart from the unassuming secrecy of how it is carried out, is that the 'cocaine' is homemade, which they name 'Flamingo'. Savitri is helped by her two daughters-in-law Bijlee (Isha Talwar) and Kajal (Angira Dhar) who handle the distribution and the operations aspects respectively, while daughter Shanta (Radhika Madan) takes care of the 'research'. Savitri's two sons Kapil (Varun Mitra) and a coked-up Harish (Ashish Verma), who are settled in US, are oblivious of what the mother and wives are upto, at least in the beginning.

Things begin spiralling out of control for Savitri and co when a contaminated dose of Flamingo incapacitates the son of the Deputy CM, leading to the cops sending a determined NCB officer Proshun (Jimit Trivedi) to seek out the cartel. Savitri also finds an old nemesis Monk (Deepak Dobriyal) back to harass her and her business. Even at home, things ain't rosy with the rivalry between the younger women getting stronger. Not to mention, Shanta indulging in a forbidden affair with her foster brother Dhiman (Udit Arora), while Bijlee has a clandestine affair going on with Naina (Monica Dogra). All in all, quite a crazy, coked up saas-bahu drama being served here.

Watch the Trailer of Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo:

Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo worked big time for me when the show bothers to focus on the saas and her bahus (and also the beti). There is this very sexy feel of seeing these bold women in charge of what is usually considered a men's domain, never mind what they are doing is pretty illegal. Hey didn't you root for Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, ya prudes? To help their case further, the women are also part of couple of action sequences, and boy, can they kick big ass! After Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota and now Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo, it is disappointing that Bollywood is not turning Radhika Madan into a bonafide action star. That said, her forbidden affair track felt like it was expanded from Kuttey, including some risque lovemaking scenes, except with the infusion of incest here.

The problem with Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo is, though, the series works only in parts. There are sequences where the mettle of the director (known for Being Cyrus, Finding Fanny and Angrezi Medium) shines, like a trippy sequence involving Harish or a scene where Proshun has to butcher a few animals, or even the aforementioned action sequences. Overall, though, I found the pacing, tone and character development all over the place.

It was kinda annoying to see the first half of the series dedicated mostly to the sons coming to terms with what the women in their family are upto. It would have genuinely made for some good black comedy had the characters not been so irksome, especially that of Harish's. Who cares for what the men are upto in a 'saas bahu' drama? Saas Bahu aur Flamingo: Radhika Madan Got Injured While Dangling Between Two Poles for an Action Scene, Actress Reveals Deets!

The show plants interesting ideas, but don't really expand on them much, like the race for succession for the next heir. Even Savitri's rivalry with Monk doesn't create the drama it deserves because the latter is hardly given the room to cause some impact. As for the other antagonist, played by the great Naseeruddin Shah, it felt more of a glorified cameo here.

I also failed to understand some of the motivations of the lead character. Like, why would Savitri put her daughter and daughters-in-law always in peril, while wanting to keep the sons 'safe' from her businesses? There is a scene where she scolds one of her sons for thinking of his wife like a property to be carried away, but the feminism the makers want to incorporate in her character looks feeble when you realise she isn't all for equality.

Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo also struggles to maintain up with the tone. In one episode, the sons are flabbergasted when they realise the 'uncle' that they used to spend vacations with was an actor. A couple of scenes later, we see a gruesome gangrape sequence. In a shootout sequence, Savitri loses some of her female fighters, the very next scene has her band do celebratory dance. No mourning for your comrades, eh?

The actors are quite good in their roles, especially Dimple, Isha Talwar, Angira Dhar and Radhika Madan. Even Priyasha Bhardwaj who plays the younger version of Savitri is excellent in her role, which also makes it disappointing when the series loses focus on what they are upto while giving attention to the peripherals.

Final Thoughts

Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo has badass women doing (morally wrong but) badass stuff, and that would have made for some very enjoyable viewing time, if things are done right. But the show struggles with its writing, tonality and focus, thereby rendering it into a series that work only in fractions, but not the sum of all. Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 05, 2023 11:18 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).