Archika Khurana of The Times of India called it "an engaging crime drama with strong female leads and a gripping storyline."Read at source
Dabba Cartel 2025 
Synopsis
Dabba Cartel
Dabba Cartel is a 2025 Indian Hindi-language crime drama series. Created by Shibani Dandekar Akhtar, Vishnu Menon, Gaurav Kapur, and Akanksha Seda, and directed by Hitesh Bhatia, the series is produced under Excel Entertainment. It stars Shabana Azmi, Jyothika, Shalini Pandey, Nimisha Sajayan, and Anjali Anand as a group of women operating a drug cartel under the guise of a food delivery company.
- Director
- Hitesh Bhatia
- Release
- 28 Feb 2025
- Studio
- Excel Entertainment
- Run time
- 56 min
- Language
- —
Reviews
9 Indian-media reviews, grouped by reception.
Critics' consensus
Mixed
Critics' aggregate for Dabba Cartel is 58/100 from 5 scored critic/publication reviews.
Synthesized by AI (gpt-5-codex-omdb-enricher) from 10 source-backed reviews — verify against the linked sources.Common praise
- performances
Positive 8
A critic for Bollywood Hungama rated the season, 3 stars out of 5 and wrote "Dabba Cartel is an engaging watch, thanks to its intriguing premise, strong casting, and gripping execution that holds the audience's attention from start to finish.Read at source
" Abhimanyu Mathur of Hindustan Times said that "Shabana Azmi, Jyotika, and Nimisha Sajayan's performances aside, this desi Narcos has little to offer."Read at source
Lachmi Deb Roy of Firstpost gave 3.5 stars out of 5 and writes that "It has its flaws, but it’s insight into the narcos world is indeed priceless.Read at source
Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave 3 stars out of 5 and said that "Uneven but always engrossing, Dabba Cartel has the potential for a longer run.Read at source
Nandini Ramnath of scroll.in said "Dabba Cartel begins well, with potentially interesting characters and a set-up within the realm of the possible.Read at source
Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express described it as a "trippy, twisted ride," particularly highlighting the lead cast's chemistry and the show's engaging plot.Read at source
Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com rated 3/5 stars and notes "Dabba Cartel’s reluctant black comedy in the body of a crime thriller starts out interestingly enough to accomplish its Narcos: Thane aspirations."Read at source
Critical 1
Vineeta Kumar of India Today gave 2 stars out of 5 and commented that "You get enough surprises but are never taken aback by them.Read at source
Media & trailers
Verified video records attached to this title.
Details
Technical specs
- Release date
- 28 Feb 2025
- Run time
- 56 min
- Country
- IN
- Director
- Hitesh Bhatia
- Studio
- Excel Entertainment
- Distributor
- Netflix
- Certificate
- TV-MA
Trivia
- Jyothika won the OTTPlay Award for Best Supporting Actor (Female) for her role in the series.
Tags
Indian Series2025Crime DramaReleasedNot listed in source page
