When you put actors like Konkona Sen Sharma and Manoj Bajpayee together, you don’t expect anything less than a performative explosion. And that was exactly my expectation from Killer Soup as well. Directed and co-written by Abhishek Chaubey, Killer Soup is a black comedy crime thriller. Along with Sharma and Bajpayee, the series also stars Nassar, Sayaji Shinde, Lal, Anula Navleker, and Kani Kusruti. Here’s our review of the series.

A mixed broth of love, revenge, and ambition

Set in Mainjur, Killer Soup starts with Swathi (Konkona Sen Sharma) serving her husband, Prabhakar (Manoj Bajpayee), a bowl of paya soup. An unpalatable concoction, Prabhu is barely able to have it but assures his wife that it is amazing. All Swathi wants is to run a restaurant and she implores her husband Prabhakar to help her open one. Prabhu keeps promising her to help start her business soon while continuing to make excuses for why he can’t do it right away. Things start to unravel the moment Swathi sees that her husband has thrown away the paya soup without consuming it.

One thing leads to the other and ends in Swathi’s lover, Umesh Pillai (Manoj  Bajpayee in a double role), accidentally killing Prabhu. To make things easier for herself, Swathi decides to replace her husband with Umesh, who also happens to be Prabhu’s lookalike barring a squinty left eye. And hence begins a chaos no one anticipated.

It’s a bumpy ride, but performances shine

As a black comedy, a few jokes hit the mark, while others don’t. There is a sense of predictability as well as being on the edge of your seat simultaneously. Despite chaos unravelling from the very first episode, Killer Soup seems a bit slow and dragging at times. But the USP of the series is the actors and their performances. No character is perfectly positive; in fact, most of them are grey, and yet none of them are completely villainised.

Konkona Sen Sharma is brilliant as the ambitious, unapologetic yet slightly timid Swathi. Her only dream is to have her individuality, and her restaurant is just a symbol of that. She wants an identity of her own and doesn’t want to run away from her circumstances. That is quite evident when she refuses to run away with Umesh after he kills Prabhu.

Manoj Bajpayee, once again, shines in his dual roles of Prabhu and Umesh. While Prabhu is a defrauding man who has stolen over 30 crores from his brother over the years, Umesh is a seemingly creepy man with a tender heart. As Umesh, you can see the guilt eating at him and the constant push and pull he feels due to killing Prabhu, hiding the murder, and continuing to defraud Prabhu’s family by pretending to be him.

Nassar, as Hassan, a jaded detective on the verge of retirement, also lights up the screen every time he makes an appearance. He is constantly striving to find the truth, especially after he loses one of his men in a seemingly freak accident. With a ghost accompanying him to discuss the case, Hassan seems to lose a bit of his mind while at the same time keeping a hold of his reality.

Sayaji Shinde, as Prabhu’s brother Arvind, Lal as a loyal bodyguard Lucas, and Anula Navleker as Prabhu’s daughter Apeksha also make their presence felt in this series teeming with numerous characters and multiple stories vying for attention.

If you are ready for a crazy, comedic ride, Killer Soup is now streaming on Netflix.

Can you watch Killer Soup with your family?: Be careful, lest they get some ideas. But definitely, keep the kids away. They don’t need to be hearing all the F-bombs the characters are throwing.

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