Killer Soup Series Review: Sometimes bubbling hot, often cold and bland

Nagarkurnool, 2017. Swathi Reddy falls in love and decides to bump off her husband. She injects hubby Sudhakar with an anaesthetic. While he is unconscious, along with lover B Rajesh, she batters his head with an iron rod. They burn the body in the forest. The 2014 Telugu thriller Yevadu lights an idea. She disfigures Rajesh’s face with acid. Now unrecognisable, she presents the lover as the husband, stating that he was attacked by unknown assailants. Rajesh (now Sudhakar) is rushed to the hospital and is advised plastic surgery. He is offered mutton soup at the hospital. He refuses, claiming to be a vegetarian. Sudhakar was not. Cops grill Swathi. She confesses. If ‘landing in soup’, had to have a literal meaning.

Created and directed by: Abhishek Chaubey

Starring: Manoj Bajpayee, Konkona Sensharma, Sayaji Shinde, Nassar, Lal, Anula Navleker

Streaming on: Netflix

Although the makers never confirmed, this short-lived conspiracy seems to be the inspiration behind Abhishek Chaubey’s long-form debut Killer Soup. It is a straightforward tale, stretched in numerous, unending directions over eight episodes. L’horrible cuisinier Swathi Shetty (Konkona Sensharma) lives with her husband Prabakar (Manoj Bajpayee) in the fictional, South Indian town of Mainjur. She excels in stewing inedible paya soup but dreams of opening her own restaurant. Her dismissive, paunchy husband Prabhakar (Manoj Bajpayee), frequently bursts her bubbles over burps. Swathi also dallies with Prabhakar’s masseuse, Umesh Pillai/Mahto (again Manoj), who, even with a ponytail and a squint-eye, oddly resembles his employer. The plot kicks in when Prabhakar dies in an altercation, after catching Umesh with Swathi. They dispose the body and Umesh, with acid burns over his bad-eye, fills in for Prabhakar.

Now, personally I find body doubles to be a lazy, unconvincing cinematic invention. Although Abhishek, along with writers Unaiza Merchant, Harshad Nalawade and Anant Tripathi, address long-standing concerns of cinemagoers with double-roles, their solutions are as half-baked as Umesh’s face. “What will you do about my voice?” Umesh asks Swathi after hearing her improbable plan. “Don’t talk only,” she advises. Convenient. Nobody in the family, including Prabhakar’s shrewd, volatile brother Arvind Shetty (Sayaji Shinde), seem to feel that something is off about Prabhakar. Even his mistress beds Umesh without batting an eye. What’s a lover who doesn’t know the lips of thy lover?

But these might just be nitpickings in the wacky world of Killer Soup. A world where a cop (Nassar) tries to solve a case with the help of Robert Frost’s poems and the drenching ghost of his dead subordinate, where a death metal song is titled ‘I love you, pav bhaji’ and a company--a final attempt at entrepreneurship--is named ‘Last Resort.’ But no amount of absurdity can justify the absurdity of a plot. Killer Soup often falls back on its own weirdness when it is unable to contain its spilling storyline. The series splits into multiple tributaries, none finding its basin. What starts off as simmering, soon turns cold. 

The characters might lack conviction but the performances never disappoint. Abhishek has gathered the A-list. Konkona Sen Sharma as Swathi is equal parts clumsy and clever. She finds a certain depth in a one-dimensional character. Manoj Bajpayee is more fun as Prabhakar, but that joy is soon killed. His Umesh, however, is only concerned with reacting (mostly with shock) to all the inane turn of events around. If there is anybody whose lead maybe even Manoj Bajpayee waits for is Sayaji Shinde. There is a warm chemistry between the two actors, playing brothers in the series. Sayaji is massively entertaining as the foul-mouthed Arvind. He spews cusswords with such pent-up frustration, you can't help but guffaw. Nassar seems earnest in the role of a drunken, grieving cop but his character doesn’t have much development, except maybe him eventually getting a shave.

Killer Soup would have worked better as a film or a mini-series. Its central plotline loses grip on the narrative soon and the show tries to clutch on parallel storylines, including an embezzlement and a blackmail angle. The happenings, although quirky, are more laugh and forget. Used in the series, this line from Macbeth summarises it perfectly, “It is a tale…full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”