Cast: Shabana Azmi, Gajraj Rao, Jyothika, Nimisha Sajayan, Shalini Pandey, Anjali Anand, Sai Tamhankar, Jisshu Sengupta, Lillete Dubey, Bhupendra Singh Jadawat
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Creator: Shibani Akhtar, Vishnu Menon, Gaurav Kapur, Akanksha Seda
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Streaming On: Netflix
Language: Hindi
Runtime: 7 episodes of 50 minutes each
Netflix has arrived with yet another unmissable web series after starting the year with a bang. The OTT platform started 2025 with Black Warrant, a fictional documentation of Tihar Jail and its inner life. And if you have not watched it, you should. But before that, book your weekend for Dabba Cartel, which is too good to be missed! Period! My review might end here since I do not want to spoil this brilliant binge experience but kaam hai to karna hai! So let me just prep you for a magnificent ride you are about to witness!
The web series, as the name suggests, involves drug dealing and the world around it. But here’s the good part – It involves everything else sans the dark world of drug cartels. Before you dive into this web series, let me warn you, it is no Narcos! Not even the Thane version of Narcos, as some of the reviews might hint or get disappointed at!
Dabba Cartel is basically about five women, struggling to meet the ends and survive in their life and doing whatever it needs to not lose the fight! The wife women – Jyotika (the richest), Nimisha Sajayan (the poorest), Anjali Anand (the sharpest), Shalini Pandey (the righteous), led by Shabana Azmi (the unapologetic and the boldest)! Two other women support the narrative – Sai Tamhankar and Lillette Dubey but we will come to that part later!
The story of the web series is very linear and predictable. Shalini Pandey runs a dabba kitchen, with her house help – turned business partner Nimisha Sajayan. Eventually, this dabba business turns as the perfect veil for a drug dealing and delivery business once Shabana Azmi takes the reign in her hands and Jyotilka and Anjali Anand are dragged in the same, due to circumstances!
However, the story impresses once these women, who are eventually afraid and scared when they find themselves trapped in this vicious world, get addicted to it very soon. Only one of them – the righteous one, wants to get rid of this world as soon as their problem ends. But others are on the same page – they now know the world and want to live in it wishfully!
Meanwhile, there is a parallel story where a Pharmaceutical Company, VivaLife, is under the radar for the production of banned drugs and distributing them illegally. An officer from Narcotics, Gajraj Rao, wants to unveil this scam to save lives, and he is joined by a local police officer, Sai Tamhankar, who wants to shine as she considers this as the biggest case of her career!
The two plots interestingly become one during the course of seven episodes of this web series created by Shibani Akhtar, Gaurav Kapur, and Vishnu Menon. Directed by Hitesh Bhatia, the web series, in fact, is fast-paced, and at every moment, something is happening despite nothing being a revelation! While the story is about a group of women turning into a gang and a major scam unfolding, it is more the story of five women knowingly and unknowingly having each other’s back because of the common goal they share – surviving the man’s world!
The web series becomes interesting the moment Shabana Azmi reveals her true self, acting as the messiah to her bahu Shalini Pandey and her business partner Nimisha Sajayan, who eventually are the root cause of this drug dealing business coming together. From two women who help the women in their personal lives, secretly selling ‘Shilajit’ hidden in a dabba, to turning into women supplying drugs under the veil of Raji’s Kitchen, using the same dabbas the series unfolds beautifully.
The most important and successful aspect of this web series is the writing! Writing which does not emphasizes or forces on revelations, twists and turns forcefully but rather focusses on working on each and every character beautifully to weave them into the story organically, so much so that nothing looks out of the place.
Dabba Cartel wins in its thought and execution. While drug dealing and mafia stories are generally about a male don and dancing women, transgenders as the dealers or women with revealing and raunchy outfits sipping drinks in bars and seducing customers. Even the female cops in such series are dressed the same to unveil and uncover the truth. But Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment flips the coin entirely, and here are five women clad in sarees, dealing with drugs as simply as they deal with dabbas made in their kitchen with absolutely no interference from the law because no one knows it yet, probably!
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Each and every character in the web series gets equal weightage, and hence, no one overpowers anyone or no one steals the thunder from anyone. Everyone gets their bit to shine, and they do! In fact, if anyone comes out as the weakest, in my opinion, it is only Shabana Azmi, though I might give it the benefit of the doubt that I might have over-expected! She surely commands the story but does not surprise her, surprisingly. Interestingly, Shalini Pandey, who seems like an exact replica of Alia Bhatt and behaves the same in the opening scenes, eventually takes over-grooming her character and acting skills and owning it during the course of seven episodes. Nimisha Sajayan, Anjali Anand, and Jyotika all shine and command their parts. Lillette Dubey’s extended cameo also holds well. Even the men in this web series, from Gajraj Rao to Parambrata, do what is assigned!
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The only minus point about the web series might be the non-interference of the law. Running a drug dealing business and turning the drug queen of Mumbai with absolutely no police officer, authority, or law, smelling the foul play is a bit abrupt and insane! But that’s Shabana Azmi’s world created by her Bahu and Beta! So their world, their rules probably!
The web series is a winner and definitely a must-watch. The backstories, the subplots, the emotional journeys, everything is on point. In fact, the climax brings the biggest surprise as the villain (if you may call him so), bringing one of the most unexpected man, from the Indian TV industry, arriving at such a crucial point! And after this point, I really want to beg Farhan Akhtar to skip Don 3 and focus on the second season, delivering it ASAP. Because after this climax, I really look forward to seeing Shabana and her women dealing with this man and how! Talk about wait? “Humse Hota Hi Nahi Hai!” IYKYK!
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4 stars!
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