Netflix India has a strong slate of projects lined up for release this year. After beginning the year with critically acclaimed shows like Trial By Fire and Class, the international streaming giant is now set to premiere Rana Naidu on March 10 and will follow that with multiple exciting projects in partnership with acclaimed Hindi filmmakers. Netflix’s 2023 lineup includes Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ambitious period drama series Heeramandi, Raj & DK’s quirky crime thriller Guns & Gulaabs, Abhishek Chaubey’s dark comedy Soup, Hansal Mehta’s drama series Scoop, and Pushpendra Nath Mishra’s Choona, among others.
These finished projects aside, the OTT platform also has a dozen projects at various stages of development, including Pratik Gandhi’s espionage thriller series, For Your Eyes Only, and Anubhav Sinha’s IC814, starring Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, and Patralekha. Adding to the lineup now is Excel Entertainment’s Dabba Cartel, which was announced in September 2021 as a part of a strategic multi-year partnership deal between Excel Entertainment and Netflix. Peepingmoon.com has learned that Dabba Cartel is finally set to go into production next month, almost a year and a half after the announcement. The women-led series will star Tamil actress Jyotika, Shabana Azmi, and Gajraj Rao in the lead roles, while Margarita With a Straw and The Sky Is Pink director Shonali Bose will helm it.
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Jyotika and Shabana Azmi will play housewives who run a high-stakes, secret cartel in this crime thriller series. The show will also have three more actresses, but their names haven’t been revealed yet. Badhaai Ho actor Gajraj Rao is said to be playing a character that’s completely opposite to what he has mostly been seen in. Shonali Bose has been working on the pre-production for the past few months and is now all set to start shooting next month. The show marks Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidwani’s banner Excel Entertainment’s second project with Netflix after last year’s romantic comedy, Eternally Confused and Eager for Love.
Dabba Cartel will also mark Jyotika’s debut on OTT and her third Hindi project since she made her Bollywood debut with Priyadarshan’s Doli Saja Ke Rakhna in 1997. The Tamil actress, known for her power-packed performances in films like Kushi, Chandramukhi, and Raatchasi, to name a few, recently shot for her second Hindi film, Sri, starring Rajkummar Rao as the real-life visually impaired industrialist Srikanth Bolla. The actress is also set to make her comeback in Malayalam films after 13 years with the upcoming Mammootty-starrer Kathal: The Core. The Shonali Bose series will see Jyotika in a role she has never attempted before.
