What Is The Story About?
Netflix’s new original series ‘Killer Soup’ follows a lousy but determined chef, Swathi Shetty (Konkona Sensharma), who aspires to open her own world-class restaurant. Her stingy husband Prabhakar (Manoj Bajpayee) derides her, while her lover Umesh (also Manoj Bajpayee) dotes on her. A freak killing compels Swathi to replace Prabhakar with Umesh, before the law comes calling. But it’s not over until it’s over yet!
Killer Soup is written by Abhishek Chaubey, Anaiza Merchant, Anant Tripathi and Harshad Nalawade, and directed by Chaubey.
Performances?
The performances in Killer Soup are excellent across the board. Manoj Bajpayee and Konkona Sensharma are both superb in their roles, as expected. They play off each other’s strengths, lending watchability to the series. Sayaji Shinde is terrific as Prabhakar’s elder brother Arvind Shetty. His performance is raw and natural.
Anula Navlekar, as Arvind’s daughter Apeksha aka Appu, is a good addition to the cast. Kani Kusruti as Kirtima is good too. Tamil veteran Nassar is a sight for sore eyes. His rooted performance adds much-needed flavour to the proceedings, along with Anbuthasan’s Thupalli. However, it is Malayalam star Lal who is the real standout actor in the starry ensemble. His Lucas is solid and spellbinding, with a presence all his own.
Analysis?
Killer Soup starts off well, hooking in the viewer with a riveting opening premise. Hints of enigma and suspense add to the atmospheric feel of the first episode. Suspenseful music adds to the unsettling feeling that pervades the storytelling, even as a camera-toting private eye snoops on the primary characters in the narrative. Before the episode can end, two characters are bumped off in quick succession. The game is well and truly afoot.
From the second episode onwards, the narrative nosedives into a downward spiral. The story is all over the place, with barely any substance to any track. The body count keeps increasing — in direct proportion to the tediousness of the script. Crucial characters drop dead like flies, and after a while, you begin to guess who the next dead man (or woman) will be. Even as the dead bodies pile up, one of the dead keeps returning in the form of a silly running gag.
Sequences begin to get repetitive after a while, and the story bores you out of your wits. Needless subplots drag down the pace of the series, and also serve to confound the viewer to an extent. Yet, with no sympathy for the patience or attention span of the viewer, the plot gets busier, and more inane, as the episodes go by.
Needless subplots do nothing for the story, but cause it to maunder and meander into boredom. Not to say, they are inconsequential and pointless. An incestuous relationship is hinted at, but the writers lose the courage to explore it further. A Muslim Khansama (Vaishali Bisht) is treated like a pariah, with Swathi forced to disguise herself in a burkha whenever she wants to visit her. The makers hint at the prevalent ‘othering’ in society through the character, but again, just superficially at best. The viewer is left none the enlightened, impressed or stirred at the end of it.
To its credit, the characterisations in the series are fleshed out well, with each character getting their moment in the spotlight. Shilpa Mudbi as Constable Asha is superb, as is Rajeev Ravindranathan as the gullible DSP. The script features a liberal smattering of Tamil, which is quite delightful to watch, given that the series is set in the fictional hill station of Mainjur in Tamil Nadu.
Several other languages get pride of place in the script – Kani Kasruti’s Kirtima slips into Malayalam once in a while; Umesh often mutters in Oriya and Bhojpuri; and Khansama Mehrunisa spouts a mean Hyderabadi dialect. The script of Killer Soup thus aptly mimics the reality of life in India, where myriad cultures and dialects mesh and merge to form a deletable smorgasbord of sorts.
Killer Soup also lacks in the compelling humour and gripping intrigue that define a black comedy. There’s not a single scene in the series that offers a good laugh. Instead, the long-winded storytelling gets on your nerves after a while, and you just wish for the ordeal to end. A shorter, crisper screenplay would have done the show a world of good, instead of the overlong, overstuffed plot it is now. Maybe, just maybe, a movie would have served the plot better, in place of eight, gruelling one-hour episodes.
There’s many a slip between cup and lip. Zeroing in on a unique, compelling story is one thing (the series is inspired by a real-life incident). But writing an equally gripping screenplay for the idea is another; and executing it such that it turns out to be an engaging watch is a completely different ball game altogether. Killer Soup falters in both of the latter.
The final episode of the series is more entertaining and engaging than the rest of the series. The climax, set to Nina Simone’s ‘Sinnerman’, is quirky and off be at; but by then you’re too engulfed in ennui to bother. In the end, Killer Soup is just a colossal waste of a galaxy of talent.
Music And Other Departments?
The background score by Benedict Taylor and Naren Chandavarkar adds the precise notes of enigmatic and ominous to the narrative as needed. Anuj Rakesh Dhawan’s cinematography is eye-catching. The editing is fine.
Highlights?
The performances
The casting
Drawbacks?
Too long and exhausting
Overstuffed plot
Gets too boring after a while
Inane subplots
Did I like it?
Not as much as I had hoped to
Do I recommend it?
Not exactly; watch it only for the cast and performances
Killer Soup Series Review by Binged Bureau
We’re hiring!
We are hiring two full-time junior to mid-level writers with the option to work remotely. You need to work a 5-hour shift and be available to write. Interested candidates should email their sample articles to [email protected]. Applications without a sample article will not be considered.
