Homi Adajania jokes that his middle name should be eccentric. The director has a knack for building on wacky themes — be it his debut film Being Cyrus (2005) that revolved around a dysfunctional Parsi family, or his upcoming maiden web series, Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo that tells the story of a matriarch running a drug cartel. Adajania says the idea has been with him since 2014.

“I told Dino [Dinesh Vijan, producer] that I want to tell a story about women who are running a cartel, and the men in the family aren’t aware of it,” he laughs.

The Disney+ Hotstar offering stars Radhika Madan, Isha Talwar and Angira Dhar. Not to mention, Dimple Kapadia who leads the series from the front, and has become a staple in Adajania’s projects. Was it difficult to get the actor, known to be choosy, on board?

“She didn’t leave me with a choice. I had to cast her out of fear,” he jokes, before adding, “If I am making something, it has to have her. A film without her would be incomplete. So even if it’s a small role, she will abuse me for it, but she will do it.”

It’s easy to see why the lead cast said an instant yes to Saas Bahu Aur Flamingo. The crime thriller subverts the regressive saas-bahu dramas, depicting women who run a drug business that may stereotypically be seen as a male-dominated field. However, the director-writer emphasises that the story isn’t about female empowerment.

“It’s about empowered people, but it is not [about] women empowerment. We aren’t saying their actions are right or wrong. Stereotypically, such scenarios are male-dominated, and here, it’s flipped on the head. But that is not empowering. What’s empowering about these women is that they live by their own set of rules.”