Director Homi Adajania has made his OTT debut with Disney+Hotstar's 'Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo'. What a debut, Homi! Take a bow. The series is led by Dimple Kapadia, Radhika Madan, Isha Talwar, and Angira Dhar. Naseeruddin Shah, Deepak Dobriyal, Monica Dogra and Varun Mitra among others have played pivotal roles. Adajania has created a fictitious world of four badass women who live their lives on their own terms. There are twists and turns, humour. In Homi's words-'it's total masala thing' he has ever made.
When I spoke to the 'Cocktail' director ahead of the release of 'Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo', I asked him what did he expect from the show, to which he replied that he hopes the audience to be fully entertained and they appreciate the fact there is no 'yardstick to the show'.
He added, "You can't really say, 'oh, this is like that' because there is no common ground. It has come out of pretty much mad fictitious space in my mind. I don't think we can compare it to anything else and it's the most masala thing I have made. I mean it has got everything in it in my way. So, I feel that it's very entertaining and binge-worthy".
Well, after watching the series, I can second that Homi was indeed right. 'Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo' is a show that has all the elements that will keep you hooked.
Adajania also shared an interesting thing about the show as he further said, "When I was working in the rough cut... normally when you make a film you get to see your material over and over again when you are doing edit, music and all, you are over and over going through the same thing. It's quite pakao. But what happened, in this case, is quite surprising. I remember watching the last three episodes and I had a meeting after that. I was just locking the rough cut of the last three episodes and I must have watched it for the 30th time and was blown away. I came out and was exhausted and turned around and told the guys with whom I was supposed to have meeting that I needed ten minutes break as I told them that I have watched something and I am completely gobsmacked by it. They asked me about it. To which I said it's extremely bizarre and biased for my own material but it's something like that. There is something very special about it."
OTT gives makers or creators to explore things in a broader way compared to other formats. On this, he said, "I think when we talk about OTT, we talk about web series format or rather a long format. I definitely think that it gives you the liberty to do that. Also, the long format is consumed with a very different sensibility by the audience. So what would sort of bore the audience in a feature film narrative, they are willing to suspend that in a long format."
He added, "You can play around with the pregnant pauses and awkward spaces of nothingness. You can do all that in a web series which you don't have the luxury to do in a feature film. So, I really enjoy that. I enjoy the fact that you can be very true to your craft, there is no pressure for Friday, Saturday, or Sunday where you have to put certain commercial tools because at the end of the day, it's business and you have to make sure that you get as many eyeballs on a Friday or Saturday, Sunday. So, in that sense, OTT gives you that luxury to be true to your craft because you don't need to use certain tools which you have to put into big films whether it's certain people you have to cast, or you have to put a certain amount of songs to popularise the product. All that you don't have to deal with when you are doing a long format. So, that allows you to be true to your craft."
Homi comes once in a while and he arrives with a bang. When asked why he makes lesser films, he said, "I have the rest of my life also which involves diving, snowboarding, trekking, and babysitting. This is one of those things which is also I do is tell stories. That is why I don't make much films. But saying that my retirement plan is to start making movies".
