Actor Nikhil Bhambri is a non-smoker, and he says smoking heavily for the web series Black Widows took a toll on his health.

"My character is a smoker and in real life I am a non-smoker. It was extremely difficult for me to shoot the smoking scenes. I had never smoked before and I had to give a lot of retakes to get a shot right. Also, during a lot of shots, I coughed and had to redo them. I had to smoke almost 10 to 15 cigarettes a day," said Nikhil.

"The excessive smoking would take a toll on my health, and the next day I would have an upset stomach and vomit. It seemed like the entire energy had been drained out of me, but I continued with my shoot and completed my scenes," he added.

The show is a quirky drama set in a picturesque small town in India. It is about three best friends who think they have gotten away with the perfect crime of killing their abusive and cruel husbands. However, one of the husbands survives and seeks revenge on the deadly female trio.

The show also features Mona Singh, Shamita Shetty, Swastika Mukherjee and Raima Sen, and is slated to premiere in December on Zee5.