What is Netflix India’s dark thriller 'Killer Soup' based on?

Speculations to date, from the day ‘Killer Soup’ was announced, have pointed at a case from the 2017 Telangana murder case where one M Swathi Reddy killed her husband Sudhakar Reddy, and later burned his body along with her paramour Rajesh.

Killer Soup, directed by the critically acclaimed Abhishek Chaubey, and starring Manoj Bajpayee and Konkona Sen Sharma in leading roles, has left many speculating what real incident the new dark thriller is based on. The movie will release on Netflix India on January 11.

While the series promises a blend of mystery, crime, and dark humor, the creators have by far restrained from making any revelations on the source the storyline has been derived from. All Chaubey and the Killer Soup team have said is that their movie is "very very loosely inspired" by real events, Netflix India said.

Konkona is at the centre of the events that clock on the screen. She enacts the character Swathi Shetty, a homemaker who dreams of having her own restaurant someday. She will be seen plotting in the movie to kill her husband, Prabhakar, with her lover, Umesh.

Speculations to date, from the day The Killer Soup was announced, have pointed at a 2017 Telangana murder case where one M Swathi Reddy killed her husband Sudhakar Reddy, and later burned his body along with her paramour Rajesh, according to a report by The New Indian Express. Swathi injected an anesthesic into Sudharkar, and after the latter fell unconscious, she killed him by hitting him on the head with an iron rod. Swathi then took the help of Rajesh and the duo burnt Sudhakar’s body in the outskirts of Nagarkurnool town in Telangana.

In the real-life crime that was committed in 2017, Swathi then attempted to fool the world by poured some acid on her paramour’s face. She then made Sudhakar’s kin believe that her husband was attacked by some unknown miscreants, as she rushed Rajesh to the hospital for a plastic surgery, where Rajesh was offered mutton soup.

Rajesh refused to consume, claiming to be a vegetarian. This is when Sudhakar’s (Swathi’s husband) kin were clear that this person is someone else entirely. They then apprised the police of their suspicion, after which Swathi was interrogated for hours. It was only then that she confessed to her crime.

“With ‘Killer Soup,’ we wanted to give the audience permission to laugh and also be totally shocked with a crime thriller that blends in humour and quirkiness,” Netflix India quoted director Chaubey as saying.

 Gangs of Wasseypur star Bajpayee and Wake Up Sid star Sen Sharma will share the screen for the first time in Killer Soup.  Other cast members include Anbu Thasan, Sayaji Shinde, Anula Navlekar, Kani Kusruti, and Vaishali Bisht.

The makers have meanwhile also emphasized that the series is primarily a work of fiction. While it may borrow elements from reality, it's not a direct adaptation of any specific case, allowing room for artistic licence.