A saas running a drug cartel with her bahus and beti — that’s quite a departure from television’s saas-bahu dramas. Radhika Madan, who led a primetime daily soap until 2016, would know. Now, the actor finds herself in the twisted world of Homi Adajania’s Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo.

Reuniting with the director three years after Angrezi Medium (2020) was a no-brainer. “Homi had told me about this character during [the shoot of] Angrezi Medium. I wanted to work with him again because I was having so much fun with him on the film. He believes in me more than I do, and gets something out of me, which even I am not aware of. When I read Shanta [her character], I had no idea how I’d play her. I couldn’t sleep at night. So, I knew I had to be part of it,” Madan says of the Disney+ Hotstar series, starring Dimple Kapadia, Isha Talwar and Angira Dhar.

The series comes after a slew of eclectic projects from Madan, including her debut film Pataakha (2018), Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota (2018) and Kuttey. The actor, who was enjoying her TV stint with Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi between 2014 and 2016, remembers how her creative spirit made her try her luck at the movies.

“One day, I was deeply involved in a scene. My director was pacing up and down, while I was trying to make a point about my character’s backstory. He got irritated and told me, ‘Radhika, the day we do a movie, we will discuss one scene for three days. We have to telecast [this episode] tonight. So, shoot it.’ That made me decide [to foray into movies]. Had that episode not happened, I’d still be doing TV,” she recalls.

It wasn’t easy to make people understand why satisfying the actor in her was more important than her popularity. “I was told, ‘You have such a good show. Why do you want to leave television and do films?’”

Today, as she enjoys being a lead star in the movies, she remains indebted to television. “I found my calling because of TV, and never look down on it.”