''Delhi Crime'' is an Indian

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air a ...

series written and directed by

Richie Mehta Richie Mehta is a Canadian film director and writer. His first feature film, '' Amal'', was released in 2008, and was nominated for Best Motion Picture and Best Director at the 29th Genie Awards. In 2013, Mehta released two films he wrote ...

. casting director Radhesh More and produced by Golden Karaven, Ivanhoe Productions, Film Karavan and Poor Man's Productions. The series star Shefali Shah, Rasika Dugal,

Adil Hussain Adil Hussain () is an Indian actor who has worked in Indian cinema, including art house cinema and mainstream Bollywood, as well as international cinema, in films such as '' The Reluctant Fundamentalist'' and '' Life of Pi'' (both 2012). He re ...

and

Rajesh Tailang Rajesh Tailang is an Indian actor. He is best known to international audiences for his role in '' Siddharth'', for which he garnered a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Actor at the 2nd Canadian Screen Awards.2012 Delhi gang rape The 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, commonly known as the Nirbhaya case, involved a rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South West Delhi. The incident took place when Jyoti Singh, a 22-yea ...

. The second season focuses on the Chaddi Baniyan Gang. Filming for the first season began in Delhi in January 2018, and was completed within 62 days. The series covers the period from the incident happening to the final arrest of the suspects. ''Delhi Crime'''s first two episodes were premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival in the Indie Episodic category. The series was released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

on 22 March 2019. It received critical acclaim, with praise for its performances, writing, and depiction of the real-life case that inspired it. At the International Emmy Awards held in September 2020, ''Delhi Crime'' became the first Indian series to receive the award for Outstanding Drama Series. The show was renewed for a second season with the main cast returning. The second season premiered on 26 August 2022.

Synopsis

''Delhi Crime'' is based on the

2012 Delhi gang rape The 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder, commonly known as the Nirbhaya case, involved a rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South West Delhi. The incident took place when Jyoti Singh, a 22-yea ...

case that took place in the neighbourhood of

Munirka Munirka is now an urban village in South West Delhi, located near Jawaharlal Nehru University and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi campuses. Originally it was a jat and brahmins village of Tokas, Rathi and mudgal Gotra. Munirka villager's ...

, in

South Delhi South Delhi is an administrative district of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India with its headquarters in Saket. Administratively, the district is divided into three subdivisions, Saket, Hauz Khas, and Mehrauli. It is bounded by t ...

. The series follows the story in the aftermath of the gang rape, where Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Vartika Chaturvedi is tasked to find the culprits responsible for the assaults and subsequent death of the female victim.

Cast

Main

* Shefali Shah as DCP Vartika Chaturvedi IPS *

as Kumar Vijay (CP)

Recurring

Denzil Smith Denzil Leonard Smith (born 6 November 1960) is an Indian film and stage actor and producer. Born to Anglo-Indian parents in Mumbai, he is known for his stage and screen roles as a character actor. Smith has acted in over 50 plays and 60 films. ...

as Vishal Chaturvedi, Vartika's husband *Yashaswini Dayama as Chandni "Chandu" Chaturvedi, Vartika and Vishal's daughter *Abhilasha Singh as Deepika, the victim of a brutal gang rape and murder *Sanjay Bishnoi as Akash Kumar, Deepika's friend who was also a victim of the attack *Vinod Sharawat as SHO Vinod Tiwari *Anurag Arora as Sub-Inspector Jairaj Singh * Gopal Datt as Sudhir Kumar *Sidharth Bhardwaj as SHO Shubhash Gupta * Aakash Dahiya as Devinder * Avijit Dutt as Gururaj Dixit * Jaya Bhattacharya as Vimla Bharadwaj (Season 1) *Swati Bhatia as Ira *Mridul Sharma as Jai Singh *Ayush Sehgal as Arunesh *Rhea Bedi as Smriti *Gaurav Rana as SHO Rakesh Verma *Govind Singh as Amar Singh *Vipin Katyal as Arif *Ashok Mehta as Lead Protester * Danish Husain as Advocate Vineet Singh (Season 2) *

Tillotama Shome Tillotama Shome is an Indian actress. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 63rd Filmfare Awards for her role in ''A Death in the Gunj''. In 2021, she won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress (Critics) for portraying a praisewor ...

as Lata Solanki/Karishma (Season 2) *Jatin Goswami (Season 2) *Vyom Yadav (Season 2) *Ankit Sharma (Season 2)

Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

Production

Development

Mehta decided to write a script based on the events during the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder incident. He then conceived the idea of ''Delhi Crime'' during a conversation with Neeraj Kumar, the former Commissioner of the Delhi Police, who introduced him to the investigating team and provided access to several legal documents that were prepared as part of the investigation. Later on, Kumar asked Mehta if he would consider making a film on the case to which he denied. He then started reading the documents and was "amazed at the precision with which this case was solved, and so quickly." He also met the officers involved in the case and was "blown away by them." Mehta also sought permission from the victim's family. He said that films like '' The French Connection'' (1971) and ''

Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The pat ...

'' (2007) influenced his approach. He modeled several portrayals of the cops based on his own observations. Mehta said that the making of the series was a "personally transformative journey" for him. He spoke to several police personnel involved in the case and tried "retracing the paths that the police took during the course of the investigation." It took Mehta six years to finish his research, adding that the writing part of the film which began in 2014 took place for more than four years, since he had to meet the cops and had to return to Canada to put his research work altogether, which took him more time. Mehta initially wanted to make it as a feature film, but as he continued the research, he realised that he could not fit the content in that length.

Casting

The casting director of the series is

Mukesh Chhabra Mukesh Chhabra (born 27 May 1980) is an Indian film director, casting director, acting workshop director, and actor who has cast several actors for movies including director Vikas Bahl's Chillar Party, Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur, Abhi ...

. Mehta decided to focus on actors from theatre background, without being influenced by the need to have recognised faces from Hindi film industry. Shefali Shah,

Rajesh Tailang Rajesh Tailang is an Indian actor. He is best known to international audiences for his role in '' Siddharth'', for which he garnered a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Actor at the 2nd Canadian Screen Awards.Adil Hussain Adil Hussain () is an Indian actor who has worked in Indian cinema, including art house cinema and mainstream Bollywood, as well as international cinema, in films such as '' The Reluctant Fundamentalist'' and '' Life of Pi'' (both 2012). He re ...

and Rasika Dugal were a part of the prominent cast members in the series, with whom Mehta worked in their first feature film ''

Amal Amal may refer to: * Amal (given name) * Åmål, a small town in Sweden * Amal Movement, a Lebanese political party ** Amal Militia, Amal Movement's defunct militia * Amal language of Papua New Guinea * Amal (film), ''Amal'' (film), 2007, directed ...

'' (2007). When Mehta spoke to Chhabra he stated that he had a little time to process the completion, so Mehta did not agree to cast star actors in the series, which unleashed Chhabra's imagination. He also added that the rise of streaming platforms had given much recognition to "some of the best acting talent in the world that comes from India". The character of Vartika Chaturvedi (Shefali Shah) was based on Chhaya Sharma, the former deputy commissioner of police in Delhi. Mehta met Sharma, who was in the team who caught the perpetrators. They spoke for months as Mehta wanted her point of view in the crime. Shefali Shah agreed to don the character after Mehta's narration spanned for five minutes and also met Sharma for the preparation of the role. Tailang's character was an amalgamation of different investigating officers, but he spoke to one police officer and used him as reference point.

Filming

The series spans six days, covering the period between 16 December and 21 December 2012, from the incident to the final arrest. The film went on floors in Delhi in January 2018 after taking permission from the Delhi police and the victim's family, and was shot over the course of 62 days. Mehta decided not to show the rape on screen as he wanted "not to cross that line into exploitation." To make the experience more cathartic for the audience, director Richie Mehta revealed that they used handheld cameras on purpose. He says, "We wanted the audience like they are a part of our narrative and all that was happening on the sets. To make them feel more inclusive, we have shot those scenes with a handheld camera." The shooting commenced in Delhi, mostly on the roads and no sets were used. Neeraj Kumar, for whom Mehta conceived the idea of the script stated that he advised the producers not to involve my successors who would neither approve of the project nor would they give any support, since the case was their predecessor's — a common failing observed in the police. Thus, the entire shoot was done almost without formal permissions. Before the shoot, Kumar called the entire cast including Shefali Shah, to brief them about police hierarchy, the rank structure, body language of the police and the works so as to find the series to be an authentic depiction of the police on account of these briefings. Kumar has not visited the shooting spot, with the exception of one scene at the

India Gate The India Gate (formerly known as the All India War Memorial) is a war memorial located near the Rajpath on the eastern edge of the "ceremonial axis" of New Delhi, formerly called duty path. It stands as a memorial to 84,000 soldiers of the B ...

because his visits to the locales would have spread the word that he was getting ''Delhi Crime'' being made for his glorification.

Release

The first two episodes of the series was premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival at the Indie Episodic Category, held on 23 January to 3 February 2019.

acquired the streaming rights of the show later, and on 14 February, with the official announcement of their new original contents (including series and films) for their 2019 original slate, the makers confirmed their scheduled release of 22 March 2019. The official trailer of this series was unveiled on 11 March 2019. The show was released on Netflix on 22 March. ''Delhi Crime'' season 2's official trailer was released on 8 August 2022.

Reception

Season 1

The first season received universal acclaim upon its release. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series has an approval rating of 92% based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 7.25/10. Daniel Fienberg of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' called it "consistently different enough to be interesting." He also felt the police-procedural conventions felt "reasonably fresh and consistently engaging." Ben Travers of ''

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

'' wrote: "An expertly told, hard-to-watch true crime series, ''Delhi Crime Story'' won't be for everyone — but it won't let go of anyone who watches."

Shubhra Gupta Shubhra Gupta is an Indian film critic, writer and columnist for ''The Indian Express'' from New Delhi, India. She received the Ramnath Goenka Award for Best Writing on Cinema in 2012. She was a member of the Central Board of Film Certificati ...

of ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

'' wrote: "Where ''Delhi Crime'' scores is in the portrayal of a beleaguered police force, which is easy to point fingers at." Saibal Chatterjee of

NDTV New Delhi Television Ltd is an Indian news media company focusing on broadcast and digital news publication. The company is considered to be a legacy brand that pioneered independent news broadcasting in India, and is credited for launching t ...

called the series "grim, gritty and grounded in the everyday." He further wrote: "''Delhi Crime'' is a knockout punch of a series: unsettling and enthralling by turns." Piyasree Dasgupta of ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' noted that the series "comes across as such an elaborate exercise to valorise the Delhi Police that it actually seems deeply insensitive." She also said that the "only people the show humanises are the police." Rahul Desai of

Film Companion Anupama Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written sev ...

wrote: "It's the tiny infusions of well-informed opinion into what is essentially dramatic long-read reportage that make ''Delhi Crime'' one hell of a ride." Rohan Naahar of ''

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Ly ...

'' called it: " gut-wrenching, stylishly directed, passionately performed, and most important, not at all exploitative." Avinash Ramachandran of ''

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naid ...

– Cinema Express'' in his review wrote: "Delhi Crime might be a glorification of the police force, but it is also a mirror to our society. It might absolve the Delhi police of its alleged dereliction of duties, but it is also a reminder that we vouched, and hoped, for a similar incident to never happen again." Along with the story telling and the premise of the series, the cast also received widespread appreciation for their performances in the series. Priyanka Roy of '' The Telegraph'' said: "And while the rest of it is worth a watch, Shefali Shah is reason number one why you shouldn't give Delhi Crime a miss." Nandini Ramnath from '' Scroll'' wrote: " Rajesh Tailang, Anurag Arora, Adil Hussain, Jaya Bhattacharya, Gopal Dutt and Vinod Sharawat are among the numerous actors who display the same dedication to their craft as did their fictionalised selves to the investigation."

Namrata Joshi Namrata Joshi is an Indian film critic based in New Delhi. Originally working for ''Outlook'', she remained there from 1999 till 2015, when she joined ''The Hindu''. She won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2004 Career Joshi is ...

from ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' said: "Tailang's control, poise and measured way plays out beautifully against Shah's dynamism to give us arguably the best on-screen buddy-cop team seen yet in India."

Season 2

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{Authority control Hindi-language Netflix original programming Indian anthology television series Indian crime television series Television shows set in Delhi 2019 Indian television series debuts Indian drama television series Indian television series distributed by Netflix Law enforcement in fiction True crime television series Police procedural television series Gang rape in fiction Fictional portrayals of the Delhi Police Gang rape in India