Killer Soup
Abhishek Chaubey’s black comedy series is stocked with ancillary pleasures and quirky performances; choice ingredients, however, do not a wholesome broth mak
Konkona Sensharma made a bewitching
Emilia in Omkara (2006), Vishal Bhardwaj’s earthy and iconic
take on Othello. It comes as no surprise that Abhishek Chaubey, who
was an assistant director on that film, has re-engaged Sensharma’s talents
on killer Soup. A fine dramatic actor, Sensharma excels at material that
twists and bends: 2021’s Geeli Pucchi, in the anthology Ajeeb Daastaans, coasted on her adept slipperiness as a performer.
Sensharma’s eyes go wide in mock or genuine alarm; equally, she can soothe and
entreat with deceptive calm. She makes a meal out of these roles, playing
seemingly ordinary pawns who end up rearranging the board.
Take her latest
creation, Swathi Shetty. She is a homemaker and a chef, but a terrible one,
serving the same bland paya soup each day to her husband Prabhu (Manoj
Bajpayee). They live in a fictional southern hill town, where Prabhu runs a
floundering real estate company. Swathi hopes to start her own restaurant, a
dream inconceivable to her husband but politely encouraged by her secret lover
Umesh (also Bajpayee). Umesh is a squint-eyed masseur with gambling debts. He
is kind to Swathi, but Prabhu is richer. When asked by Umesh, “Do you love
me?”, Swathi takes a long and delicious pause, hedging her bets.
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