"Delhi Crime" five years later

 Back in 2021 I watched the "Delhi Crime" (2019) series and posted a blog after the first season   http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/01/delhi-crime-is-gripping-drama-about.html

Since then they have added two more seasons and it seemed a good time to go back to the beginning and follow up to the end of the third season.

In the second series, Vartika, a senior police official is admired, but is confronted with another serious crime.  Some elderly middle class citizens are brutally murdered and the public seems certain that a notorious gang is responsible.  As with the previous season there is police bureaucracy infighting, compounded by agitated journalists along and limited resources.  Some gang associated suspects are rounded up, but Vartika soon realizes they are innocent of the murders and releases them.  Being very methodical she contends with a lot of criticism, but solves the crime.  

In the third season Vartika has been promoted to Assam, a distant jurisdiction, noted for tea.  While following an illegal arms movement the police stumble on a trafficking ring for women from Assam to Delhi.  Likely it was mostly for purposes you can easily imagine, but at one time they were specifically looking for pre puberty girls for illegal medical experiments.  Soon we encounter Meena, a recruiter and trainer for the girls.  Vartika takes it upon herself to follow up to Delhi and work with familiar support staff.  Later she travels to Mumbai on the same project.  She is close to being demoted, but she is very methodical. 

Neeti Singh, an important assistant has gone through a romance and then a divorce.  Vartika's daughter Chandni moved to Toronto, Canada and returned.

Richie Mehta was the creator  writer and executive producer of the original "Delhi Crime" (2019).  He is not related to Deepa Mehta, well known Canadian film maker who also has done films based in India.  Richie from Mississauga, Ontario graduated from the University of Toronto.  He took a film production course at Sheridan College and one of his experimental shorts ended up being made into a feature, "Amal" (2007) which made it to the international circuit and won him some awards.  Over the years he has written, directed and/or produced successful films such as "I'll Follow You Down (2013) and "Siddharth" (2013).  When he heard of the major rape story on international news he was concerned that it painted India in a bad light and overlooked elements of the crime which was resolved very quickly.  Looking for a feature film his six years of research he needed a mini series to squeeze in all the relevant details.  He saw it as a mission to bring light to the story.  Richie chose to emphasize the people involved rather than the horror of the actual crime.  To be as authentic as practical he used Neeraj Kumar who had been Delhi Police Commissioner at the time as consultant.

Tanuja Chopra was brought on as director, producer and writer for the remaining two seasons.  Born in California he received a degree in Seminotics from Brown University in 1999 and a  Master of Fine Arts in Film degree from Columbia University in 2007.  He has done music videos.  Tanuja has 15 directing credits, 6 for producing and 10 for writing. 

Ceiri Torjusson, the composer for the last two series was born in Wales and can speak Welsh.  While in high school he started performing and composing for jazz, funk and disco bands.  He received music degrees from York University (in the UK) and University of Southern California.  Ceiri spent seven months touring and teaching in India where he picked up an interest in northern India classical music.  He has 101 composing credits, 56 for the music department and 2 for additional crew including "I Robot" (2004).

Johan Heurlin Aidt, responsible for cinematography was born in Denmark.  He has 13 cinematography credits, 13 for the camera and electrical department and 3 for directing including "The Loudest Voice" (2019), "The Report" (2019), "Ocean'8" (2018),  and "House of Cards" (2013).  Earlier blogs on two of these:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/11/the-loudest-voice.html and  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/05/the-report.html

Parikshhhit Jha was an editor.  He has 25 editor credits, 8 for the editorial department and 4 for producing including "Kai Po Che" (2013).  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2013/05/kai-che-po.html 

Assembling a cast for this level of production requires someone like Mukesh Chhabra.  He has been involved with the casting of such films as "PK" (2014), "Haider" (2014) "She" (2020) and "Del Bechara" (2020). He has acted (small roles) in many of the films including, "Amal" (2007), "Siddharth "(2013) and "Delhi Crime" (2019-2025).  Further research revealed that Richie Mehta wanted to avoid mega stars (expensive and distracting) and this allowed Mukesh to seek out the best actors for the roles.  Earlier blogs on some of his films:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2015/03/pk.html and http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2015/02/haider-bollywoods-version-of-shakespeare.html

Shefali Shah played Vartika Chaturvedi, the officer in charge in a no nonsense manner cutting through excuses, political pressures and red tape.  Shefali has won numerous awards, with 45 acting credits including "Mohabbtein" (2000), "Monsoon Wedding" (2007), "Gandhi My Father" (2007) "Laksmi" (2014), "Dil Dhadakne Do" (2015), as the romantic lead in "Once Again" (2018) and as a woman in early dementia who persuades her husband back to where she had an affair in "The Three of Us"  (2020).  She won an award for her role in "Delhi Crime"   See  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2024/01/three-of-us-is-subtle-drama.html and http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/12/doctor-g.html

Raskika Dugal played Neeti Singh a trainee police officer who proved she was more thorough than most male officers.  She commented that for Season 2 she had received a promotion as did her model police officer she was following, but for Season 3, the model police office got another promotion, but she did not.  She got a degree in math.  Raskika has 55 acting credits, 1 for writing and 1 for cinematography including "Manto" (2018), "Once Again" (2018) and "Hamid" (2018) for which she won best actress award.  

Rajesh Taileng  played a key officer in pursuit of the rapists.  In 2022 he wrote a poetry book.  Rajesh has 44 acting credits 8 for writing and 5 for directing including "Mangal Pandy:  The Rising" (2005),  "Amal" (2007), "Siddharth" (2013), "The Second Best Marigold Hotel" (2015) and "Pagglait" (2021).    

Adil Hussain plays a supervisor under pressure from politicians and bureaucrats.  He is very versatile and is fluent in English, Hindi, Bengali, and Assamese.  An international award winner including Norway, he has 101 acting credits and 3 for producing including "The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012), "Life of Pi" (2012), "English Vinglish" (2012), "Tigers" (2014), "What Will People Say" (2017) and "Kabir Singh"(2019) and "Good Newwz" (2019).  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/02/good-newwz.html  

Denzil Smith played the husband of the chief inspector. and the father of the girl wanting to leave.   He has 76 acting credits including: "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" (2011),  "Talaash" (2012) "The Lunchbox" (2013), "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" (2015), "Viceroy's House" (2017), "Photograph" (2019), "Badla" (2019) and "Tenet" (2020).  Read about Badla, a remake of a Spanish film:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/09/a-masterpiece-film-and-very-good-remake.html

Yashaswini Dayama  plays Chandni, the daughter of the chief inspector and leaves (for opportunity in Toronto) because of her negative opinion of Delhi and becomes involved in protests.  She has 16 acting credits inclukding "Phobia" (2016) and  "Dear Zindagi" (2016).

Huma Qureshi played Meena in the third season.  She was spotted by Anurag Kashup while doing a commercial for Samsung Mobile.  She has 39 acting credits and 2 for producing including "Gangs of Wasseypur" (2012), "Badlapur" (2015),  "Jolly LLB 2 (2017) and "Jolly LLB 3" (2025).

This series, like many other police dramas points out bureaucratic infighting and budget concerns, but tries to emphasize there are many dedicated officers.  "Delhi Crime" is available dubbed or subtitled on Netflix where it is possible to view all three seasons.

As usual I have bolded the first mention of films I have seen.  They are not necessarily a recommendation, but generally these are among my favourites.  The cast and crew are well connected to outstanding films and if you follow the links you should be better able to determine if a particular film is worth following up.