Cast: Shabana Azmi, Gajraj Rao, Jyothika, Nimisha Sajayan, Shalini Pandey, Anjali Anand, Sai Tamhankar, Jisshu Sengupta, Lillete Dubey, Bhupendra Singh Jadawat

 

Crew: 

Cinematographer : Eeshith Narain
Editor : Manas Mittal, Prakashit Jha
Music Director : Gaurav Raina, Tarana Marwah
Director : Hitesh Bhatia
Producer : Excel Media & Entertainment

OTT Platform: Netflix
No. of Episodes: 07
Release Date: 28th February 2025 

Jyothika has been finding diverse scripts after her comeback and OTT platforms have been lapping up her different films and web series. Shabana Azmi, Nimisha Sajayan, Shalini Pandey, Sai Tamhankar and many talented actors have been cast in the series. Hitesh Bhatia directed the series produced by Excel Entertainments. The series has been dubbed into Telugu as well and it is available on Netflix. Let's discuss about it in detail. 

Plot: 

A Pharmaceutical company in Mumbai faces drug mishap. Pathak (Gajraj Rao), Food and Drugs Safety Officier, starts to investigate into the issue. Raji (Shalini Pandey), Maala (Nimisha Sajayan), and Shahida (Anjali Anand) who run a Dabba business in the city are found suspicious in this case. Sheela (Shabana Azmi) and Varuna (Jyothika) get involved in this business and hence ensues, Dabba Cartel. Watch the series to know how the entire mystery unfolds. 

 

Analysis: 

Shabana Azmi, Jyothika, Nimisha Sajayan, Gajraj Rao and Shalini Pandey are very good in their roles. Their performances carry the series but the problem lies in the writing and narration. While the series has a very interesting plot, it tries to over compensate everything from a rear view window style. It tries to analyse and talk about the issues faced by women and at the same time wants to talk about empowerment, too. 

But the cartel business being handled by these characters don't really gel into the narrative in an exciting manner. It feels like the writers had an exciting idea and then they wanted to talk about everything under the sun. Also, the idea of converting it into a series did not work as the script feels like better for a film rather than this long series. 

It feels dragged to death with unnecessary sub-plots and overlong with indulgence into several issues. Shabana Azmi can ace any role but her character writing did not fit into the tone of the series. Even Jyothika's character and others do not really engage us into the series. With few moments here and there, writers did show some sparks but overall it just feels like a simple point dragged to death. 

The production values are fine but more care should have been taken in VFX. Several sequences are also dragged out too much while they could have been easily shortened. Editing needed to be better for a narrative flow to be intact. Technically, the series is fine but better writing and execution could have made wonders for the plot and performances. 

In Conclusion: 

A good idea but bad execution. 

Rating: 2/5