Black Widows Web Series Review: Mona Singh & Shamita Shetty's Dark Comedy Will Fix Your Weekend Blues
Available On: ZEE5
Duration: 40 minutes/ 12 episodes
Language: English
Story: The show Black Widows is based on popular Finnish show Mustat Lesket, and its Swedish remake Black Widows. It follows three women trapped in abusive marriages, who decide that there is something better than divorce - murder.
Review: Black Widows starring Mona Singh, Swastika Mukherjee, Shamita Shetty, and Sharad Kelkar is a dark comedy that follows the murder of three men, their killer wives, a business partner and a ruthless pharma company, which is hiding a deadly virus. The show starts with the promise of a whodunnit murder mystery, however as the episodes proceed, more subplots move on to the bigger evil at play. We meet all three women, Veera (Mona Singh), Jayati (Swastika Mukherjee) and Kavita (Shamita Shetty) at a birthday getaway party with their husbands. At first look, they all seem happy in their lives, but soon the abusive husbands begin to show their true colours. By the end of episode one of the series, the husbands are dead, an accidental death report has been filed and the wives are heading out to their new lives.
Black Widows Is A Dark Comedy
Every now and then, new twists are introduced either in terms of new characters or plot points like Jatin's (Sharad Kelkar) return, the arrival of Jayati's stepson, and some more deaths. They also have the cops on their trail, who at one point, are convinced that the wives have killed their husband, and still, they manage to stay under the radar by using the age-old excuses like, 'Humari auratho wali cheese hai uss bag mein. Haath mat lagao usse.' The murders shown in the first episodes are not meant to be taken seriously, neither are the efforts taken by the widows to hide their intentions. We see the three women start out with a friendship that will take them through hell and back, but with more complications, their bond is also tested.
Black Widows Is Based On Finnish show Mustat Lesket
The one thing that does not work for the show is the need to counter every serious scene with a comic relief scene or comic background music. Black Widows attempts at dark comedy but ends up more as a comedy for the first three-quarters of the show. Seeing the character actually worry about the outcome of their actions and take serious efforts, could have enriched the viewer experience. Here, the comedy in the dark comedy fails to grasp a deeper meaning and is only used to make the audience laugh.
Black Widows Is Streaming On Zee5
Despite the twisted plot and a simple screenplay, Black Widows keeps the audiences engaged, thanks to an ensemble cast with good performances. Nothing else is expected from Mona Singh, Sharad Kelkar, Aamir Ali, Swastika Mukherjee and others. We get some amazing scenes with picturesque backgrounds and good cinematography. Overall, Black Widows could turn out to be the gateway for more and better dark comedy content on OTT.
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