Series Review: Dabba Cartel [Tiffin Box Cartel]

This new series reminiscent of popular international thrillers like ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Narcos’ dropped on Netflix recently with a refreshingly all-women line-up in the lead up to International Women’s Day this month.

Sheila (Azmi) appears to be the quintessential elderly Ba (mum), quietly watching her daughter-in-law Raji’s (Pandey) home-based tiffin box or dabba catering business from the sidelines of their small flat in Thane, near Mumbai. But unbeknownst to most, this foodie venture is not all that it seems with some of the boxes being packed in with pills for the female customers looking for a little boost for their husbands.

Raji’s motivations behind this sneaky add-on is simply to earn some extra cash to back up her husband Hari’s (Jadawat) dreams of relocating their young family to Germany. But for her “business partner”, housemaid Mala (Sajayan), it means a better life and education for her little daughter. Varuna (Jyothika), meanwhile, is struggling to keep her fashion boutique Sitara afloat and estate agent Shahida (Anand) is on the lookout for a life free of judgment.

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The lives of these unlikely allies collide when they are drawn into a drug delivery web thanks to Mala’s misjudged affair with a small-time dealer. Even as the overt criminality involving the banned drug MDMA unfolds, a more covert form of criminal activity is bubbling away in the form of illicit painkillers being peddled by a pharmaceutical giant.

As the astute drugs inspector Ajit (Rao) closes in on the trail of the pharma giant with the help of some canny investigation by police inspector Preeti (Tanhankar), the rapidly expanding ‘Dabba Cartel’ is hurtling towards disaster with Ba’s dealer pal Moushami (Dubey) in the firing line. Will unlikely drug lord Ba manage to manoeuvre her cartel out of harm’s way in time to save her best friend or have these feisty women completely boxed themselves in?

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The seven episodes of this series simply whiz past as audiences will most certainly struggle not to binge the escapades of this so-called “Narcos Thane”. Shabana Azmi, as always, delivers a superlative performance as the dubious matriarch, as does Lillete Dubey in her loyal underworld friend avatar. However, it is difficult to single out performances in this show, which is simply packed with one punchy character after another being led through some very smooth direction.

From the way things wrap up, another season is very much in the offing. And, it can’t come soon enough!