(#63) Delhi Crime S1 (2019) - [8.5/10]
Updated: Jun 7, 2019
A police officer is assigned to hunt down the culprits of a Delhi gang rape crime.
How would I describe this show in one word?
Chilling.
Note
I'm so glad Netflix has brought their original shows to India. They had already brought in Sacred Games but I hadn't gotten around to watching it yet but this was brilliant. Indian RV shows don't need to be defined by cheesy soap operas and this has come to bring an end to that reputation.
Review A chilling thriller. Shefali Shah and Rajesh Tailang stars as DCP Vartika Chaturvedi and Bhupendra Singh, and boy do they shine! The show is based on the aftermath of the 2012 Delhi Gang Rape as DCP Vartika Chaturvedi and her team is tasked to hunt down the culprits of the Delhi Crime. If you were to take this show simply as a work of art, then the story-telling, suspense and thrill is breathtaking. But knowing this is a sickening reality, only amplifies all the emotions that you would get from it if it were fiction. Because eventhough there was little to no graphic scenes (except a brief unrevealing side view of nude bodies in the beginning of the show), the detailed description of the crime revealed through dialogue are graphic, disturbing, and at times, bearable to process in your mind. This show will truly haunt you, not from it's scenes or characters, but the brutal reality that such demonic acts are performed maybe even everyday in the Indian soil.
The show, while demonizing the culprits and antagonising the city and its people, does however shed light on real police investigations in India. It is refreshing to see the way the Indian police actually works as opposed to it's fancy depiction in the Bollywood silver screen.
There are quite a few things I learned from this show, the first being that a woman was actually the lead for this magnanimous case. Another thing was that electricity was a part of a police station's budget and they are not automatically government-funded. Indian police don't have a lot of handcuffs so they physically hold their hands instead - which was an incredibly surprising revelation for me. Also, many police officers work long unfixed hours without being adequately paid overtime salary. And a lot of the officers have to pay for expenses out if their own pocket simply because the government is incapable of providing them with it. There's so much you can learn about real Indian policing through this show - it's incredible!
This show makes you think twice to not immediately point fingers at the police when such heinous crimes are committed (quick side note: it seems that the script writers really loved that word 'heinous' because they use it so annoyingly often) and places you in their shoes and the reality of their job which takes hard work, sacrifice and responsibility. This may not exactly be a true depiction of the every Indian police forces - cause here, they are portrayed as gentle, law-abiding, honest government officials (not that there aren't) - as we have heard numerous instances of corruption and fraud. But the show just asks us to respect their work and dedication and not jump to criticism every time criminals are at fault for the endangerment of society.
Technically, the cinematography, lighting, and musical background score for the movie was top-notch and we'll ahead of many Indian shows in that regard. And the acting especially by Rajesh Tailang was sublime. A must-watch and I recommended this to everyone who loves a good thriller.
P.S. I did slightly generate the fear for white buses now though. RATING: 8.5/10
Creator: Laurence Bowen, Toby Bruce, Richie Mehta Rated: 16+ Runtime: 50 min/episode Genre: Crime, Drama Starring: Shefali Shah, Rajesh Tailang, Rasika Dugal