The Homi Adajania-directed Disney+ Hotstar series “Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo” largely revolves around the Rani Cooperative (a cocaine-making factory that pretends to make dolls and herbs) and how its matriarch, Savitri, pushes her family into a pitched battle so that she can choose her successor. While this is happening, Savitri’s archnemesis, Munk, instigates her downfall, thereby making him the number one cocaine maker in the country. And the death-by-overdose of the son of a Deputy Chief Minister, done by Munk and his men to tarnish Savitri’s name, pulls a determined cop into the mix who is hellbent on uprooting this entire illegal operation. There are many other subplots that are going on, ranging from Harish and Kapil’s transformations to Dhiman and Shanta’s relationship. But let’s focus on the points that matter so that we can make sense of the ending of the show and speculate on what can come in the following seasons (if we get one).
Spoilers Alert
The Final Task Involving Proshun That Went Sideways
After Munk blows up one of Rani Cooperative’s cargo ships, which was carrying crores of dollars worth of cocaine, Savitri decides to choose a successor based on who manages to deal with this whole situation in the best way possible. Bijlee’s arc largely revolves around her extramarital affair with Naina and how she deals with the issues that Rani Cooperative is facing while her drunk and drugged-out husband keeps pestering her. The writers of “Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo” choose to take the “doomed queer romance” route because that’s the only thing they know, thereby prompting Bijlee to step away from the rat race. Shanta wants to expand Rani Cooperative’s business by introducing her personal drug, “Pink Unicorn,” which she’s perfecting with the help of Savitri’s colleague and romantic interest, Donze. To make matters more complicated, she’s in love with her adopted brother, Dhiman (he’s not actually adopted, FYI). And all this comes to a head when the secret surrounding Dhiman and Shanta’s relationship leads to the deaths of two people (Jogi and Donze) at the hands of Kapil. So Shanta decides to stop fighting for the throne.
Kapil, on the other hand, finds the courage to look past his moral boundaries and be in the running for the throne, especially after he’s congratulated for maintaining the secrecy around Dhiman and Shanta’s relationship by killing Jogi. Dhiman spends most of the show in Savitri’s good books. But his affair with Shanta destroys his goodwill. He tries to win it back by warning Savitri about Munk’s impending attack (and even showing up to fight Munk and his men) and by trying to win the “dahi handi” contest. However, it’s apparently not enough. Harish is the comic relief, and he thinks he has a chance to win this game. Luckily, he’s such a loser that everyone knows that he’s just the punching bag. Then there’s Kajal, whom we’ll come to in a bit. Now, by the end of the show, everyone fails in one way or another in Savitri’s eyes. Still, she gives all of them one last chance to prove their worth by killing Proshun, who has been captured after he found out that drugs were being smuggled via the stomachs of goats.
Dhiman steps up to do the task but is stopped by Savitri as she realizes that Proshun has to say something to her in private as it can save everyone. Kajal, weirdly enough, is angry about this and suggests Savitri not to listen to Proshun. Still, Savitri advises everyone to step out, and they oblige because she’s still the queen bee over there. That said, moments after they leave the holding cell, Proshun injures Cheema, arrests Savitri, and escapes with her in a jeep. The rest of the family chases after them, and it ends with Savitri and Proshun’s car crashing into the river and apparently killing both of them. If you are wondering what this oh-so-important thing is that Proshun had to say to Savitri, it’s unclear. Why does he say it’ll save everyone? No clue. Later on, it’s revealed that Proshun aided in faking Savitri’s death. Why did he choose to suddenly side with Savitri, though? Nobody knows. If that’s not bad writing, it’s probably a case of saving essential plot details so that they can be revealed in a potential second season of “Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo.”
Kajal’s Revenge
Yes, Kajal plays an important role in “Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo” because she turns out to be one of the villains. Her backstory is explained pretty clearly. She is the daughter of a sheik who put her up for prostitution when she was a kid. Yes, the show partakes in some casual discrimination. The reason why I say that this comes off as discrimination on the basis of religion is because the religions of the main villains are rarely shown in a bad light. Savitri, who is the protagonist of the show, boldly proclaims her religious inclinations while associating her identity with heroism. But in Kajal’s case, the makers never make an effort to separate the religious identity from the character’s actions, thereby adding to the ongoing generalization of the community she belongs to. That’s how I see it, and everyone else’s views on this matter can vary based on their biases. Anyway, when Kajal was being sold off, Cheema intervened and took her to Savitri. Kajal was already pregnant with a child, which was delivered in Savitri’s presence. But Savitri declared that it was dead, and it was shoved away somewhere off-screen.
Here comes the confusing part. Somehow this child ended up in Munk’s custody. Why did Savitri say that the child was dead even though it was clearly alive? Was Savitri involved in child trafficking? Did the child teleport from Savitri’s ship to Munk’s boat? How did Munk know that the child belonged to a girl called Kajal, who was working with Savitri? Why did Kajal believe that Munk actually had her child and that it wasn’t some random kid that he was using to manipulate her? To be honest, the writers chose not to answer these questions, so I don’t have any. Anyway, since Munk promised Kajal that he’d reunite her with her baby boy and help her get her revenge against Savitri (for separating Kajal from her baby) and Dil Samson (for being Kajal’s potential buyer), Kajal started working for Munk. She’s the one who informed him about the ship. She’s the one who planted the idea of going after Munk before Munk decided to attack them, thereby causing casualties on Rani Cooperative’s side.
Now, it’s surprising that Kajal turns out to be on a path of revenge. When you look beyond its element of surprise, though, is there anything substantial? Well, you can say that Munk manipulating Kajal to work against Savitri is an example of how men turn women against other women for their personal benefit. As mentioned before, there’s a good possibility that the kid isn’t Kajal’s. She always had that negative sentiment against Savitri, and Munk put it to good use. When you get into the “how” of that aspect, it gets confusing because we never really see Munk or his men doing any kind of research on Savitri’s team that would allow him to play her like a fiddle. We just have to assume that they did something to gain Kajal’s trust and turn her against Savitri. If it’s not evident already, let me make it clear: Kajal’s revenge quest needed more time in the oven. It’s a good subplot that got rushed for no reason.
Why Did Savitri Fake Her Death? Is Proshun Alive?
After Savitri is apparently burned on the pyre and the rest of the family assembles to hear the contents of the will, Munk enters the frame, kills the lawyer, burns the will, and takes on the throne to rule over Rani Cooperative. Kajal explains her whole story. Munk kills Dil Samson. And that seems to be the end of Season 1 of “Saas, Bahu, aur Flamingo.” But that’s when Kajal notices Cheema staring at her, and Cheema repeats a phrase about folks dropping their masks to reveal their true selves. This leads into a flashback where we see Savitri noticing Sahebji conversing with Munk after his arrest and coming to the conclusion that he’s going to help Munk infiltrate her “haveli.” Then we see Cheema preparing Naina’s body to look like that of Savitri’s so that it can be presented as Savitri’s corpse after the accident. Everyone only saw someone with Savitri’s markings burning on the pyre while Savitri sat back in the monitor room, watching the mole (Kajal) expose herself.
The first question that’s probably crossing your mind is whether or not Savitri killed Naina. Did Kajal kill Naina so that it’d break Bijlee’s morale, and Savitri merely used her body for her little theatrics? Did Naina accidentally slip and fall on a knife and become the perfect person for Savitri’s plan? The writers don’t provide any clear answers, so I am going to assume that Savitri is the one who got Naina killed so that no one finds out that Bijlee was in a lesbian relationship. When the opportunity presented itself, she and Cheema used Naina to fool everyone. Which brings us to the second biggest question: what was this all-important information that Proshun had for Savitri? Why did Proshun side with Savitri at the last moment? Is Proshun even alive?
Regarding the first question, I’m guessing Proshun had some lead on Sahebji and Munk’s plans. Regarding the second question, all I can deduce is that Proshun had been burned way too many times by the system he was serving. Therefore, he wanted a way out of it without going back to his job. Maybe Savitri told him that he should go off-grid by faking his death and then clean up the miscreants from the outside. There’s your answer to the third question: yes, Proshun is definitely alive. Because as per the cliche, if you don’t see a body, the character isn’t dead. This show even proves that if you don’t get a clear look at the faces of dead characters, they might be alive. Jayantilal even says that Proshun is a good swimmer. So, at the cost of sounding repetitive, Proshun is alive. That’s still speculative, though, because at the end of “Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo,” we only see Savitri walking out of the control room and probably heading towards the room where Shanta, Dhiman, Bijlee, Kapil, Harish, Kajal, and Munk are in.
What Can We Expect From ‘Saas, Bahu Aur Flamingo’ Season 2?
The most obvious assumption is that Savitri has essentially ambushed Munk, Kajal, and the rest of her enemies in a room, thereby giving her the perfect opportunity to eliminate them all in one go. But do you think it’s going to be that simple? We know that Munk is a slimy snake, and Kajal is quite trigger-happy at this point. And given how that room doesn’t just have Savitri’s enemies but her family as well, she’s probably not going to risk the chance of them getting hurt. Instead, Savitri is going to work from the outside, at least until Munk, Kajal, and Sahebji truly begin to believe that she’s dead. When they are at their most inattentive, she’s going to strike. In the meantime, it’s quite possible that Munk and Kajal are going to force Shanta to mainstream her product, i.e., Pink Unicorn. In my opinion, that’s what the second season of this show should be called: “Saas, Bahu, aur Pink Unicorn” or “Saas, Bahu, aur Unicorn.” I don’t think Shanta has any option but to comply because everyone’s lives depend on it.
If Bijlee learns that Savitri or anyone else is involved in Kajal’s death, there’s a good chance that she’s going to switch sides. She already had murder on her mind, and it appeared like she was done with Rani Cooperative. Naina’s death was the last straw. Yes, Munk’s entry and Kajal’s betrayal have delayed whatever she was planning. However, as soon as she realizes that she has the upper hand, she’s going to show her true colors. If she does that, though, she’s going to end up dying because no one is killing Savitri that easily. Kapil’s plans to be Savitri’s successor have gone on the back burner. It’ll be interesting to see how he reacts to this new status quo, especially because the love of his life is technically his enemy. I hope that we get to see more of Sahebji because he was more of a background villain in Season 1. With Dil Samson gone, he can be turned into a major player, thereby giving us the opportunity to see Naseeruddin Shah kill it on the small screen. In addition to all that, I want more action from Season 2. I was surprised by the quality of the action direction in the show, and I don’t want them to skimp out on it just because it’s tough, stressful, and painful. It looks good on the screen, and that’s what matters. Anyway, these are my opinions and expectations. Please watch the show for yourself on Disney+ Hotstar and let us know what you think of it.
