Why was the title of the web series ‘Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo’ changed?

Mumbai: Homi Adajania's debut web series was previously titled "Saas Bahu Aur Cocaine" but the director says it was rechristened as "Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo" as he felt the negative connotation in the name would have "put off a certain demographic of audience".

In the upcoming show, 'Cocaine' became 'Flamingo', the fictional name of the substance trafficked by a company named ‘Rani Cooperative’, which is a front for the biggest drug cartel being run in South Asia.

"The reason we changed it to ‘Flamingo’ was I think the earlier title had a certain negative connotation which would have put off a certain demographic of audience. It was a difficult thing in terms of marketing, to go across certain websites and stuff, which gets censored," Adajania told PTI in an interview here.

The series, set to start streaming on ‘Disney+ Hotstar’ from May 5, revolves around the matriarch Savitri, who runs Rani Cooperative, along with her her daughters-in-law, Bijli and Kajal, and her daughter Shanta who live in Hastipur - a forgotten village in northwest India.

"Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo", the director said, is not just a story of four women who operate a drug ring.

"Frankly, it's not about the drug itself, it is much more. So, flamingos are the brand of product that these guys sell. It also has a quirkiness to it, the fact that in that region there were a lot of flamingos. So, it's the name as well. We just decided to go with that. It isn't just a story about women and a drug cartel. It's much more than that," he added.

Produced by ‘Maddock Films’, "Saas Bahu aur Flamingo" features Dimple Kapadia, Radhika Madan, Angira Dhar, Isha Talwar, Ashish Verma, Varun Mitra, Udit Arora, Deepak Dobriyal and Monica Dogra.

Actors Talwar, Dhar and Madan said they boarded the show to work with Adajania.

"I wanted to work with him so that definitely was the biggest reason why I wanted to do this show," Talwar said.

For Dhar, the uniqueness of the story was a bonus.

"I actually wanted to work with him (Adajania). Apart from that, the content, it's very rare that it comes along your way. So, there was not an ounce of me that did not want to do it. I wanted it very badly, I auditioned for it and I got it," she said.

Madan, who worked with Adajania in the 2020 film "Angrezi Medium", said she couldn't pass up the chance to collaborate with the director again.

"I like when the character scares the best out of me. Shanta did and I didn't want to give up the opportunity to work with Homi again," she added.

Adajania said with the show, he is not trying to make a statement on women empowerment. The women in the show just happen to be at the forefront of an illegal trade.

"Strangely, when a woman holds a gun people need to talk about it and when a man does, no one seems to talk about it. It's not about saying what these women are doing are right or wrong. It is not about empowering them. It is just that because we aren't used to seeing it like that (so) it has become a subject of discussion. I would love to live in a world where it is not the subject of discussion. That was not a statement to make," he said.