Dabba Cartel Review: Shabana Azmi and crew lay the ground for 'Narcos Thane' with dazzling flair

3.5/5

Dabba Cartel Review: Story: Raji (Shalini Pandey) runs a tiffin service with her house help and friend Mala (Nimisha Sajayan). Mala is deceived by her boyfriend one day, and he blackmails her into selling weed through her dabba service. One drug leads to another, and the cartel recruits more women—Shaheeda (Anjali Anand), Varuna (Jyothika), and Sheela (Shabana Azmi). As the players increase and the drug underworld is alarmed, difficulties arise, and the women must now fight to survive and expand the business. Will they succeed, or will they succumb? Watch Dabba Cartel on Netflix after reading this review.

Dabba Cartel: Review

With everything releasing in the world of streaming right now, a show about a drug cartel operated from a kitchen is not a very attention-grabbing thought. We have seen numerous similar great pitches that get diluted by the time they reach our screens, which has led us to keep our expectations to a bare minimum. Adding to it, the abundance of violence, not just physical but ideological as well, has started to put off a lot of people. So, as Dabba Cartel releases with a star as massive as Shabana Azmi headlining it, will it manage to convince people that it is not following the same herd and has something unconventional to offer? Let's dissect.

In your head, list down five shows about drugs, cartels, and the mess those two words lead to. Now segregate them into two sections—one with common elements and one with unique aspects. The latter will always be smaller because there are only a few roadmaps that are easily available and suitable for the streaming audience's appetite (as per many makers) that creators choose to take. In that pool comes a show that is now stylized, with people borrowing their lives from a Quentin Tarantino movie, trying to make their drug cartel work while an equally stylish cop is behind them. Instead, this is a story about everyday people—those who are scared, reserved, and system-fearing, just like you and me, trying to work in the underworld because fate has led them there. They will clean coriander on the same table they cleaned weed an hour ago because, for them, both qualify as priorities. 

Created by Shibani Akhtar, Vishnu Menon, Gaurav Kapoor, and Akanksha Seda, written by Bhavna Kera, and directed by Hitesh Bhatia, Dabba Cartel finds its soul in the very fact that these women, while they had the tendency to fight the world, were never supposed to be in this place. Even Baa, played by the ethereal Shabana Azmi, even when she had taken down this world once back in her time, was still put into that pool against her choice. She only learned how to swim when thrown into the dark pit. So, there are no victories—there is only a fight to keep the men trying to overpower them at all times outside their boundaries, to stand for their community, and to let sisterhood thrive.

The writing explores the women with a nuanced gaze. It does not try to show that all is well within the gender, but when they come together, they fight for what’s right. Sheela Baa doesn’t smile because she has seen hell to the extent that she has forgotten the emotion called happiness. For her, life is now that of a stone-hearted person walking around a house that also has her son and daughter-in-law. The daughter-in-law, Raji, is a woman pulling off tricks for extra money but never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined selling drugs. Her partner, Mala, is otherwise seen as society’s common house help, only given equal respect by Raji, and that is all she craves. When money flows in, she can command it, and that is her idea of power. Varuna is a woman who has been pushed into being mere furniture in her home by her husband because she is a ‘danger’ to his position at the office—simply because she is better at the job.

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Shaheeda finds herself surrounded by problems just when she is done being the good girl in the world of property brokers. Behind them is Preeti (Sai Tamhankar), a woman making peace with her sexuality while also trying to survive in a job where men constantly push her down because a lady cop is never to be feared, right? To them, she is just comic relief at the police station. Hitesh, Vishnu, and the team shape Dabba Cartel in shades of women who are fighting hard against the world of men. The show, in its best parts, is reminiscent of Asim Abbasi’s stellar Pakistani drama Churails, which revolved around women defying oppression to fight back against patriarchy.

Season 1 of Dabba Cartel captures the foundation of a story that is clearly designed for multiple seasons. It sets up the journey of these women to a point where the human in them slowly begins to flicker and the devil takes over, one drug lord at a time. Season 1 is about doors closing in on them—there is no longer an option to back out. Dabba Cartel tells the story of people like us, thrown into grim circumstances with no path to revival.

The acting performances are stellar. Shalini Pandey and Nimisha Sajayan serve as the beating hearts of this drama. Sajayan, in particular, beautifully captures the urgency of a woman from a marginalized background who yearns for respect, even if it comes at the cost of selling illegal substances.

While the world-building in the first two episodes feels a bit shaky, Dabba Cartel quickly finds its rhythm and evolves into something compelling. The show establishes a strong foundation for its future seasons. It is one of the most well-packaged shows in recent times, with every department—from direction to cinematography—working cohesively. The final frame is haunting, paving the way for an electrifying Shalini Pandey performance in Season 2 (if there is one—and there should be).

Also, can we have more of Shabana Azmi putting mannerless men in their place with her piercing gaze and badass dialogue delivery? This is the content I live for! A legend completes 50 years in the industry with a bang! Dabba Cartel is backed by a phenomenal technical team that understands the fine line between excess and restraint, ensuring a balanced and well-executed narrative.

Dabba Cartel Review: Final Verdict

Dabba Cartel isn’t just another stylized underworld drama—it’s a gritty, character-driven narrative about women from our surroundings who are pushed into the darkness and must fight to survive. Netflix’s latest offering gives us Shabana Azmi in full form, and for that alone, you should be paying your subscription fee.

Dabba Cartel debuts on Netflix on February 28, 2025. Stay tuned to OTTplay for more updates on this and everything else from the world of streaming and films.

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