ZEE5 original Black Widows is a terrific dark comedy about three women that decide to kill their abusive husbands and start life afresh. But things don’t go according to plan and matters only get complicated, resulting in a thoroughly entertaining 12-part series.
An official remake of the Finnish show Mustat Lesket, Black Widows is replete with plot twists that keep you hooked right till the end.
Kavita (Shamita Shetty), Jayati (Swastika Mukherjee) and Veera (Mona Singh) are stuck in bad marriages. Kavita’s husband Nilesh forces her to sleep in order to grow his business. Jayati is a victim of domestic abuse at the hands of her husband Lalit (Mohan Kapur). And Veera’s husband Jatin (Sharad Kelkar) keeps threatening to kill their daughter Siya.
The three women, also friends, decide that the only way to end their collective misery is to kill their husbands.
They trick their spouses into joining them for a weekend outing. There’s a neat plan that’s laid out. The men will hit the waters in a speedboat, on which a time bomb has been planted. In no time, the bomb will go off and their husbands will be killed. And that’s what happens (or at least seems to happen). As the boat erupts in flames mid-water, Kavita, Veera and Jayati can almost imagine their new lives. Now the idea is to pretend to be devastated widows till the cops close the case as one of accident and then move on to better lives. And this is exactly where the problem lies - passing off an accident as a murder is easier said than done.
Cops Pankaj (Parambrata Chattopadhyay) and Rinku (Shruti Vyas) get on to the case and during the course of their investigation find a timer belonging to the bomb. They are convinced now that the incident was more sinister than it appears to be. As if this wasn’t trouble enough, the three widows also have to deal with their individual demons too.
By the end of the first episode, you’re treated to a major revelation - turns out that one of the husbands, Jatin, is alive. This is the first major indication that the elaborate triple murder plot hatched by the women was anything but a success.
As the narrative progresses, the plot only thickens with new characters joining the fray. There’s lead investigator Barry Singh Dhillon (Sabyasachi Chakraborty), Jatin’s business partner Rameez (Shaheb), a manipulative pharma company executive Inaaya Thakur (Raima Sen) and a single dad Eddie (Aamir Ali) trying to win over Veera’s affection. You also have Faisal Malik as Bhole and Nikhil Bhambri as Lalit’s son Jahaan from a previous marriage.
In the meanwhile, Pankaj and Rinku continue investigating the case despite the three women trying their best to throw them off the scent. They keep discovering newer layers to the case even as the equation between them gets complicated. There also comes a point in the story when Veera, Jayati and Kavita’s relationship becomes so strained that it threatens to snap. Disagreements creep in and things only worsen between them. We’re not telling you anything more lest we end up giving you spoilers.
High on suspense and thrill, Black Widows holds your attention right through 12 episodes and forces you to keep reaching out for the ‘Skip End Credits’ button.
Speaking of the writing, Radhika Anand has deftly adapted the story in keeping with the sensibilities of Indian viewers. Director Birsa Dasgupta has done a fine job of bringing the story alive on screen while also extracting winsome performances from the cast. Around 35 mins each, the episodes are perfectly sized, and much of the credit for this goes to editor Sumit Chowdhury. Black Widows is also a slickly shot show, thanks to DoP Shubhankar Bhar.
Shamita Shetty, Mona Singh and Swastika Mukherjee are brilliant in their individual parts.
From funny to scheming to complex, their characters have several shades and each one of them has done full justice to their role. It’s their beautiful chemistry and comic timing that powers the narrative forward.
Sharad Kelkar and Parambrata Chattopadhyay are excellent. Aamir Ali, as the charming single parent, and Raima Sen, as the mysterious Inaaya, make a strong impact.
As inspector Rinku, Shruti Vyas is wonderful and the equation she shares with Parambrata is definitely something to watch out for. The rest of the supporting cast including Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Faisal Malik, Shaheb and Nikhil Bhambri are remarkably good too.
Verdict
Black Widows is a delicious show that’s a potent combination of comedy, suspense and thrill. It’s one show that should definitely top your binge-watch list this weekend. We’re giving it 4 out of 5 stars.
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