Aahana Swrup
Netflix’s Hindi crime show ‘Dabba Cartel’ presents a riveting tale about a Big Pharma conspiracy and a group of women who find themselves in the center of a drug dealing network. When Raji begins a lunchbox business in her community, she never expects to get caught in the middle of a dangerous bargain between her business partner, Mala, and local crime boss, Chavan. Nonetheless, as trouble finds its way to her door, it also unravels certain secrets about her mother-in-law, Sheila’s past. Simultaneously, a nationwide scandal shines the limelight on VivaLife Pharma, whose future becomes inextricably intertwined with Raji and her dangerous tiffin business. Consequently, over the course of a few months, the criminal underbelly of Mumbai undergoes drastic changes, bringing Raji and VivaLife’s fates on the precipice of something precarious. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Dabba Cartel Recap
Raji, a bright-eyed housewife, runs a small tiffin service business, in which she packs a few “special lunchboxes” with herbal Viagra. Her partner, Mala, who juggles another job as a house servant, aspires to expand this business model, especially at the insistence of her boyfriend, Santosh. However, the latter’s interest in her business turns menacing when he starts blackmailing her into delivering weed for him through the tiffin service. Meanwhile, Raji’s husband, Hari, vies to get in his boss, Shankar Dasgupta’s good graces to cement his name for a Germany transfer. However, Shankar faces prominent trouble as his company, VivaLife, comes under fire after a woman in Amritsar dies due to prescriptions of an illegal opioid-based painkiller, Modella.
VivaLife Pharma has a history with similar opioid painkillers. Even so, there’s no direct connection between the company and Modella. As a result, FDSCO agent Ajit Pathak arrives at the VivaLife office to conduct an investigation. In the face of the businessmen’s outright hostility, he’s forced to demand help from the local police station. Yet, the authorities refuse to take him seriously and assign his case to Preeti, an undervalued female cop. Ajit likes to stay by the book, while Preeti has no qualms about bending the rules. Still, despite their differences, the duo match each other’s dedication to solving the case.
As Ajit starts bearing down on Shankar with his investigation, Hari sees it as an opportunity to make a good impression on his boss and earn the transfer. On the other hand, Raji and Mala are forced to operate their business out of a second location, bringing Shahida—the broker—into orbit. Therefore, it isn’t long before she discovers Mala’s weed stash. However, Raji falls pregnant around the same time—an idea Hari is less than enthused about. For the same reason, the woman is desperate for some extra money. Thus, she agrees to move some products for Santosh if she gets to keep a profit cut. Soon, Santosh attempts to push them toward moving his cocaine stash. Nonetheless, a disagreement between him and Mala compels the latter to dump his drugs down the drain.
Therefore, it isn’t long before Santosh ends up dead at the hands of his boss, Chavan, who targets Raji, Mala, and Shahida next to force them into becoming his drug mules. During the dangerous confrontation between the women and his goons, Raji’s mother-in-law, Sheila, arrives for aid and handles the gangster with startling ease. She cuts a deal with Chavan to sell his product using the tiffin service in order to pay off Raji’s debt. Consequently, under her management, Raji’s business-turned-drug-dealing-front takes off. As it turns out, Sheila’s best friend, Moushumi, is also in the business of peddling MDMA drugs. Thus, the former is able to cash in a favor from her to acquire some clients. Yet, this puts Moushumi on a potentially dangerous path against her supplier, Chacko Kurien.
Eventually, Preeti also finds a lead in the case, but her abrasive methods inevitably land her and Ajit in trouble with their superiors. Nevertheless, this inadvertently gets Ajit transferred to a desk job, where he can extensively investigate VivaLife’s records. Meanwhile, Sheila and the others rope in Shankar’s wife, Varuna, into their business by using her failing starter, Sitaara Boutique, as a money laundering front. However, when the woman blows through their cash, she has to find a new way for them to peddle drugs.
Consequently, Varuna comes up with the idea to use Bhomwick Bose, VivaLife’s scorned engineer, to fabricate their own party drug, Mithai. Inevitably, this puts Sheila and the others on Chacko’s radar. Furthermore, things come to a head at VivaLife as Ajit covertly colludes with the media to push his agency to investigate the Pharma company properly. As such, Shankar attempts to rope Bhomwick back into business with him. However, everything comes to an explosive conclusion when Raji decides to sabotage her own business by snitching the details of the operation out to Chavan.
Dabba Cartel Ending: Who is Iklakh?
After Raji leaks information about her drug manufacturing operation to Chavan, the latter uses the distraction of her baby shower to steal the supplies from the women’s covert lair. However, he becomes the least of their worries when Chacko sends out his own henchmen after Sheila and the others. Consequently, an unnerving altercation follows in which the women are transported to the drug kingpin’s farmhouse. Chacko is unamused by the new competition Sheila has introduced in the market against his own MDMA business. Furthermore, he feels betrayed that his own distributing agent, Moushumi, has aided in growing his apparent rival’s business.
Yet, Chacko understands the goldmine Sheila and the others seem to have tapped into with their party drug, Mithai. They have managed to create a huge demand for the substance, which they have a monopoly on since they’re the only ones in possession of its recipe. For the same reason, Chacko wants the women to work for him and manufacture the drug for his operation. Even though Raji is opposed to the idea, it becomes evident that she and the other women have little choice in the matter once the drug lord establishes his dominance by enforcing Moushumi’s death.
However, while Chacko may have won this round, Sheila isn’t prepared to let him win the entire game. Once she returns home after the day’s horrid events—effectively having earned a ruthless employer and losing her closest companion—the woman decides to reach out for reinforcements. She makes a call to Iklakh, asking him to return to Mumbai at the earliest. The gravity of the situation, paired with the lack of context around Iklakh, inevitably raises some curiosity. As it turns out, this mysterious alley has been referenced before in Sheila’s story.
Back in 1992, when Sheila was escaping from Mumbai after killing a cop, Moushumi reassured her that she and Iklakh would take care of the mess with the local police in her absence. Therefore, it seems like Iklakh is one of Sheila’s old contacts—from the days when she was known as Kashi. Considering he dealt with the authorities previously, when the woman had to flee to a new life, it seems like he has some criminal credibility. Furthermore, the fact that Sheila immediately turns to him once she realizes the scope of the danger Chacko poses also speaks volumes. Thus, it seems like Iklakh will prove to be a key player in the next potential season, in which he will likely team up with Sheila to avenge Moushumi’s death and drive the offensive against Chacko.
How Did Bhomwick Bose Die?
While Sheila and her team’s storyline devolves, a simultaneous narrative unravels in the background, revolving around Ajit and Preeti’s investigation into VivaLife. After spending months of their lives on the investigation, the duo finally arrive at a hopeful place. Ajit’s efforts have revealed the discrepancies in VivaLife’s drug tests around their initial US-targeted opioid painkiller. Furthermore, they’re able to track down Bhomwick Bose, who has firm evidence that Shankar and his team used him as a scapegoat to escape the repercussions of their actions. Thus, they have a promising case against VivaLife that will open up future avenues for stricter investigation into the company’s connection to Modella.
However, Ajit knows his agency is in the Pharma company’s pocket. As such, he takes Preeti’s advice and covertly goes to the media with his investigation. Once the news breaks out to the public, it threatens to cast an unappealing shadow on the agency if it keeps ignoring the issue around VivaLife. Consequently, the government worker gains the upper hand, which pushes his superiors to greenlight his official investigation into Viva Life. Yet, at the same time, he’s also looking into the new party drug on the market: Mithai.
Ajit suspects VivaLife to be behind the drug since it uses the same chemical composition as Modella. Once Bhomwick learns about the same, he realizes that if the agent looks into the drug further, his involvement in its creation will eventually come out. The engineer can’t afford for his participation in the drug’s manufacturing to be discovered since it will definitely ruin his life and career. In fact, the jarring reality of his hand in Mithai’s creation might even influence people’s opinion on his previous work with VivaLife, breaking their trust in his innocence. Yet, while these complications mount as a possible reality for his future, Bhomwick knows there isn’t any escape from his situation.
Bhomwick doesn’t have the resources to dampen the FDSCO’s investigation into Mithai, and he knows Ajit is dedicated enough to never drop the case. However, if the agent tracks the drug down to Sheila, the woman will inevitably reveal the engineer’s involvement through the secret video she recorded of him during the manufacturing process. Therefore, it’s only a matter of time before Bhomwick’s connection to the party drug comes out, discrediting his entire career. Thus, tragedy strikes on the day that the media goes public with the VivaLife news, highlighting his position as a treasured source.
Initially, Preeti and Ajit worry that Bhomwick’s radio silence in light of the news outbreak might indicate his nerves or second thoughts about his collaboration. For the same reason, they show up at his door to check in on him—only to discover his dead body in a scene surrounded by drugs. While the possibility remains that another party got to the engineer—either VivaLife or Chacko—it’s most likely that he took his own life after realizing he’s been backed into an impossible corner.
Why Did Chacko Have Moushumi Killed?
Moushumi’s death arrives as a particular emotional crest in the story, establishing the gravity of the danger Sheila and the others are surrounded by while also enforcing Chacko’s villainy. Moushumi was in constant business with Chacko, utilizing her well-built network to distribute MDMA to the drug lord. For the same reason, she remains worried about helping Sheila with her supply. She knows the crime lord won’t take kindly to her shifting loyalties. Still, her history with the other woman compels her to help out in whatever way she can. Even though she pulls the plug as soon as it attracts Chacko’s suspicions, she agrees to help with the distribution of Mithai.
Thus, Moushumi’s decision to go behind the crime boss’ back and keep Sheila’s operation a secret from him inevitably invites Chacko’s ire. Initially, he strives to understand the intricacies behind the woman’s betrayal. As such, he discovers the long-buried secret that Moushumi and Sheila share. As it turns out, Hari—Sheila’s son—is really related to Moushumi, who is his biological mother. Nonetheless, when Sheila was leaving Mumbai, she agreed to take the kid with her and raise him as her own, knowing that Moushumi wouldn’t be able to be a mother in her line of work. Once Chacko taps into this sentimental past, he is all too happy to exploit it.
Chacko establishes himself as a hedonistic maniac early on. His family’s lucrative business drove him to boredom, which compelled him to launch a drug dealing business. He’s perpetually in search of excitement and drama, which he usually mines at the expense of others. After discovering the connection between Moushumi and Sheila, the crime boss has an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. He wants to punish the former for her betrayal. On the other hand, he’s eager to prove his deadliness to Sheila and the other women to maintain an air of fear in their professional collaboration. For the same reason, Chacko forces Raji to pull the trigger on Moushumi and deliver her to her doom.
Raji’s forced involvement in the murder has the added benefit of exciting drama that Chacko craves at every turn since the woman knows Moushumi is her husband’s biological mother. Furthermore, the crime boss uses Hari as an incentive by sending a covert hitman after him—compelling Raji to choose between her husband and Moushumi. In the end, Hari survives, while Moushumi falls to her death. Her death is bound to drive the narrative of the next potential season, at least in terms of Sheila’s motives and Chacko’s continued villainy.
What Happens to Hari?
In order to ensure Raji goes through with Moushumi’s murder, Chacko has a plan in place. While he’s forcing her to kill the other woman, he has one of his own men targeting Hari, Raji’s husband. Thus, if she refuses to play along with Chacko’s game, he can have her husband killed in an instant. This also proves to be a driving factor for Moushumi, who has just been revealed to be Hari’s real biological woman. She knows the lengths that the crime boss can go to in order to secure his empire and prove his point. For the same reason, while Sheila holds on to the hope that he won’t actually have Moushumi killed, the latter knows she has to die if she wants to protect her son’s life.
Eventually, as Chacko counts down to Hari’s possible doom, Raji has no choice but to shoot Moushumi—who is prepared to die for the safety of her son. Consequently, Hari survives the danger he isn’t even aware he is under. Back in his home, the man is having an entirely different crisis of his own. So far, he has managed to figure out that Sheila and Raji are hiding something from him. As such, he decides to snoop around for answers—and ends up discovering a life-altering truth about his life. While looking through Sheila’s belongings, he comes across her will and testament, which is accompanied by a letter.
The will reveals the reality of the wealth Hari’s mother has been hoarding, while the letter reveals the truth about her past—and likely her connection to Moushumi. Naturally, this revelation arrives as a shock for the man whose entire world has just been turned upside down. Therefore, by the time Sheila and Raji return from their nightmarish trip to Chacko’s farm, Hari has already left the apartment. At this point, his entire worldview has collapsed—on top of his professional life crumbling after VivaLife fires his boss, Shankar. Thus, he seems to be at a precarious point by the end, which will likely affect his narrative in the coming potential season.
Why Does Raji Snitch to Chavan?
Even though Chacko’s interruption ends up posing more significant problems for Sheila and her drug-dealing business, Raji’s initial betrayal will likely loom over in the background in the aftermath. Throughout the course of the foundation of Raji’s Tiffin as a drug-dealing cover, each individual is lured into the operation due to greed of one form or another. Mala and Shaidad both want better lives for themselves, while Varuna wants to find a way to save her sinking business. Even Raji initially agrees to peddle Santosh’s weed because she’s desperate for more money to ensure she can help fulfill Hari’s dream of moving to Germany. However, Sheila has a unique motivation that is different from all of these women.
In another life, before she settled down in Thane for a domestic life, Sheila used to be the right-hand man for a mafia don from Mumbai. Nonetheless, circumstances pushed her out of the same circles. Initially, she begins aiding Raji and the others due to a sense of protectiveness over the women. She knows her daughter-in-law has dug herself into a hole she can’t escape. Therefore, she’s compelled to lend a helping hand. However, once she dips her toes back into the dangerous waters, she’s reminded of the thrill of a criminal life. Sheila never abandoned her past because of her own choices. She loved being a mafia top dog and has been suffering from boredom all these years. For the same reason, once Sheila gets a taste of this life again, she can’t stop. She continues doing business with Chavan until it eventually blows up in her face.
Yet, Sheila isn’t the one who faces the consequences of her actions. Instead, Chavan targets Raji, abducting and psychologically torturing her. As such, she’s desperate to escape the dark underbelly of drug dealing. Still, when she tries to float the same idea, she realizes that none of her business partners are ready to give up on the luxury that comes with drug money. In fact, a direct confrontation with Sheila reveals the same decision. Consequently, she realizes that the only way to pull her mother-in-law away from the business is to ruin their operation. For the same reason, Raji reaches out to Chavan and reveals the secret behind their Mithai supply, allowing him to steal their Modella stash while everyone else is preoccupied with her baby shower event. Although Chacko’s interference will neutralize Chavan’s threat, the event will likely cause some damage to Raji’s dynamic with the other women.
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