Dabba Cartel review: A dabba that offers some food for thought as well as some psychedelic drama

Dabba Cartel is a deep dive into the gritty underworld of women navigating the drug trade - a world where survival instead of power takes centre stage!

On the surface, the connection between women and drug cartels may seem tenuous, but through the lens of survival, it becomes unmistakable. Women, long adept at navigating hostile environments, are shown to be incredibly capable of thriving within the drug trade—a system rigged to ensure only the fittest survive. Dabba Cartel frames the drug trade not merely as an illegal business but as a battleground for control, where women fight back against a world designed to exploit their vulnerabilities.

The show operates both as an investigative thriller and a cartel origin story, centering on five women—Raji, Mala, Shahida, Baa, and Varuna—who come together out of frustration with their stifling lives. What starts as a modest tiffin service, run by Raji (Shalini Pandey) and her maid, Mala (Nimisha Sajayan), soon morphs into a drug cartel. The narrative runs on parallel tracks: one storyline follows the investigation into a pharmaceutical giant, VivaLife, whose banned drug, Modella, is at the heart of a corporate conspiracy. Led by top executive Shankar Dasgupta (Jisshu Sengupta) and an ambitious employee, Hari (Bhupendra Jadawat), the men of VivaLife engage in cover-ups and power plays, slowly uncovered by a tenacious drug-control inspector, Ajit Pathak (Gajraj Rao), and a determined young police officer, Preeti (Sai Tamhankar).

The second storyline traces the rise of the women, often underestimated by the men around them. Raji, housewife, operates a simple dabba service with Mala, secretly distributing herbal viagra with the meals for extra cash. Raji dreams of leaving India, while Mala, a single mother, grapples with the frustrations of a society that degrades her. Together, they cross paths with Shahida (Anjali Anand), a local broker, and Varuna (Jyothika), Shankar’s wife, ex-VivaLife employee whose failed boutique adds to her growing resentment. The unlikely alliance is headed by Baa aka Sheila (Shabana Azmi), the most experienced of them all, who hides a dark past. Formed out of necessity, this group is bound by the gradual wiping out of their agency in a male-dominated world.

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Initially, the premise seems ambitious, but the show gains momentum, seamlessly weaving episodes together. The paramecutical acts as a front and explainer for the women who use a tiffin service, grounded in home-cooked meals and domestic routine, as a front for their drug cartel. This setup cleverly plays on societal norms that reduce women to homemakers, rendering their contributions invisible. Director Hitesh Bhatia and writers Vishnu Menon and Bhavna Kher avoid gangster clichés, rooting the narrative in the lived experiences of these women. The drama unfolds not from flashy action but from the biases that shape their lives and the decisions they make under pressure. So more than a plot, it's character driven show! 

It excels in its depiction of gender dynamics. The men, absorbed in their own narratives of power, remain oblivious to the control shifting beneath their noses. Characters like Shankar and Hari believe themselves to be central figures, dismissing women’s ambitions as trivial hobbies but the women’s invisibility becomes their most potent weapon. As the men focus on their ambitions, the women quietly build a drug empire, unnoticed in the shadows. These women aren’t stereotypical “badasses” bent on revenge; they are survivors, bound by a shared understanding of oppression in a patriarchal society. Their entry into the drug trade is not an act of rebellion but a survival strategy, born of necessity. The show doesn’t glamorize their actions, emphasizing the moral consequences of their choices. Guilt, defiance, and the emotional toll of their decisions keep us grounded in the high stakes of their journey.

What truly sets Dabba Cartel apart from becoming just an Indian Narcos is its portrayal of inherent politics as women reclaiming their agency rather than chasing power or wealth. The cartel isn’t about ambition but endurance, driven by relentless societal pressures. The sharp writing with focus on small details and grounded realism allow social commentary to naturally weave into the narrative. Thane’s setting, with its mix of class conservatism and the tension between modernity and tradition, enriches the story—whether through Mala’s arc of a kaamwali bai highlighting class disparities, or Varuna’s quiet rebellion against her husband’s dominance. Also the use of Excel Entertainment universe like a DON song playing over a heist-like-mission adds to the mischievousness of the story!  

Even the clever use of choosing bindis to mark drug-laden meals symbolizes how these women subvert traditional expectations to infiltrate male-dominated spaces. And as the Modella conspiracy unravels - with hidden truckloads of drugs and whistleblowers that ends up aiding women to build their empire in disguise, it embodies the central theme of duplicity of the show that states that survival often hinges on deception. Whether it’s a mother hiding her past, a wife concealing from her husbands, lesbians hiding their sexuality or a husband masking misogyny as concern - everyone is lying to survive.

The performances anchor the series with the towering presence of Shabana Azmi’s and Jyothika's portrayals as figures of quiet strength, Nimisha Sajayan’s fiery yet fun Mala, Shalini Pandey’s nuanced Raji, Anjali Anand's and Sai Tamhankar's 'too eager to prove themselves' portrayals of Shahida and Preeti. The male characters offer compelling counterpoints without falling into villainous caricatures and are instead shown as flawed products of a system. In all of this, Gajraj Rao’s Ajit Pathak is a standout who truly deserves a spin off of his own! 

If the dialogue from Mirzapur - “Shuru majboori mein kiye the, par ab mazaa aane laga hai”—were turned into a storytelling theme, it would resemble Dabba Cartel. What begins as a desperate move evolves into a fully-fledged operation, ultimately becoming a meditation on survival in a world that systematically erases existence especially that of a woman. The cartel is not just an escape from economic oppression but a metaphor for how women must navigate a society that refuses to acknowledge their worth. Hence, the series is a story of resilience, adaptation, and the lengths women, and at large, people, will go to reclaim their power revealing that no matter which class or gender you belong to, the hustle of everyday life grinds us all down equally.

Dabba Cartel is now showing streaming on Netflix! 

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