"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.

Delhi Crime is a Gripping Drama about a horrendous crime

You may have read a bit about the actual crime  (Nirbhaya incident of December 2012) as it made the international press.  The horror of it is hard to comprehend.  If it was a typical rape it would not have captured so much attention.  It took place on a  moving bus and not only did it involve what is generally called a "gang rape," but one of the six perpetrators expressed his hatred of women by using an iron rod.  If you would like more description you have to seek other sources or watch the series which does give more details.  Rape laws were changed as a result to give the victims more credibility.

Such a crime generated not only national outrage, but international criticism.  The police are criticized and careers are threatened, yet they did an incredible job tracking down the rapists.who had fled to different parts of India.  The bulk of the series is about the obstacles in finding the guilty, convincing witnesses, dealing with legal restrictions, the press and violent protests.  The police were initially given little evidence very methodically uncovered little details and eventually caught all 6 rapists in only six days.  Personal details of the officers were part of the drama.  The media soon learned of the iron rod and stirred up the public reaction including misinformation that led to riots demanding the police do something. Political pressure was applied.  Several instances of people not trusting the police.

It won the International Emmy for drama series as well as 3 awards with the Asian Academy Critics Award and has done well on Netflix.  Below are highlights of some key contributors, but be assured many others are responsble for the high quality of the series.  Most of the dialogue is subtitled from Hindi, but about a third is English.

Richie Mehta 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.  Looking for a feature film his six years of research he needed a mini series to squeeze in relevant details.  He saw it as a mission to bring light to the story.  He 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.

Robert Friedland, a producer was part of a movement to develop the Asian film market.  He is a mining tycoon who felt mining was poorly portrayed in films, such as "Avatar"  had been the executive producer for "The Sky is Pink" (my favorite film from 2019), "The Wailing"  (2016 Korean) and "Crazy Rich Asians" (2018).   http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/12/the-sky-is-pink-my-top-movie-for-2019.html

Sidney Kimmel, producer had helped produce "The Kite Runner" (2007),  "Synedoche, New York"  (2008),  "Gone" (2012) and "Come Hell or High Water (2016).

Johan Heurlin Aidt, responsible for the cinematography had worked in camera & electric department for "The Loudest Voice" (2019), "The Report" (2019), "Ocean's Eight" (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

Andrew Lockington composed the musical score.   He was born in Burlington Ontario and in 2008 the International Film Music Critics awarded him Breakthough Film Composer of the Year.  He has done the scores for such movies as "Saint Ralph" (2004), "San Adreas" (2015) and "The Space Between Us" (2017).  He had worked with Richie Mehta for "Siddharth" (2013).

Beverly Mills, editor had worked with  "Shameless" (British version 2004-08),  "Death at a Funeral" (2007),  "Call the Midwife" (2013-14), and "India in a Day" (2016 with Richie Mehta).

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 this one.  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

The acting from not only of the listed ones, but all of the others lent credibility to this difficult subject.

Shefali Shah played the officer in charge in a no nonsense manner cutting through excuses, political pressures and red tape .  Shefali has won numerous awards and has appeared in "Mohabbtein" (2000), "Monsoon Wedding" (2007),  "Laksmi" (2014), "Dil Dhadakne Do" (2015)  and as the romantic lead in "Once Again" (2018).  She won an award for her role in this and is slated for a sequel.

Rajesh Taileng  played a key officer in pursuit of the rapists.  He has appeared in "Mangal Pandy:  The Rising" (2005),  "Amal" (2007), "Siddharth" (2013), "The Second Best Marigold Hotel" (2015).    He  also wrote  dialogue for "Amal" (2007) and "Siddharth" (2013).

Raskika Dugal played a trainee police officer who proved she was more thorough than most male officers. She has appeared in such films as "Manto" (2018), "Once Again" (2018) and "Hamid" (2018 for which she won best actress award).  

Yashaswini Dayama  plays the daughter of the chief inspector and wants to leave (for opportunity in Toronto) because of her negative opinion of Delhi and becomes involved in protests.  She has appeared in "Phobia" (2016) and  "Dear Zindagi" (2016).

Adil Hussain plays a supervisor under pressure from politicians and bureaucrats.  He is very versatile is fluent in English, Hindi, Bengali, and Assamese.  Some of his films include, "The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012), "Life of Pi" (2012),  "English Vinglish" (2012), "Tigers" (2014) and "What Will People Say"(2017).  An international award winner including Norway.

Denzil Smith played the husband of the chief inspector. and the father of the girl wanting to leave.   He has appeared in: "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" (2011),  "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

Underappreciated police are given a low budget resulting in becoming overworked and open to "gifts" and cutting corners.  Low esteem creates a vicious circle.  In this movie Richie depicts many of the shortcomings of the Indian police force, but also shows us some dedicated talented members which were modelled on actual officers.

Note:  As usual I have bolded films I have seen with the first mention.

GOOD NEWWZ

"Good Newwz" is a funny movie, hard not to laugh through most of it.   Second highest Bollywood gross in the U.S. for 2019.  But it has deeper repercussions.

The premise is two families named Batra are motivated to try invitro fertilization, but the sperm of the two men are injected into the other man's wife.  One couple (Akshay and Kareena) are quite upset and frown upon the other couple (Diljit and Kiara) as being offensively uncouth.  After accepting their situation they (Akshay and Kareena) are reluctant to have any type of contact with the others but it breaks down and at the end they are all involved with each other.

Reminds me of three other films that dealt with similar themes:

"Born in Absurdistan" (1999) an Austrian film where the sons of  Austrian and Turkish couples get mixed up and is not discovered until after the Turkish family has been deported.  The Austrian couple track down the Turkish family.  At first there is distrust with the Austrians looking down on the Turks,  but the Turks are very suspicious.  Plans are made to check blood back in Austria which would require smuggling deportees back.  As I recall several years later in the end the couples reconcile and decide to join together and raise both sons. 

"Like Father like Son," (2013) directed and written by Hirokazu Koreeda presents a similar dilemma (of switched babies), except all participants are Japanese and the two boys are 6 years old.  One father is a successful workaholic and the other father is relatively poor with other children.  At one stage the two boys play together while the successful father is upset that the son he has been raising is not of his blood.   The poorer one offers to raise both boys.  His wife is very attached to the son she has raised, but the husband is obsessed with blood lines.  Eventually although feeling very superior the one father realizes he is not as good a father.  The end is emotional as the one father realize his life has not been as meaningful as he had assumed.

"Dombey and Son" (1983) recently seen, but had read the Charles Dickens novel many years ago.  The story line is of a successful man whose wife dies after a son is born.  He finds his earlier born daughter of little interest, although she is very devoted to him.  He tries grooming his very young son, but he dies.  There is a lot of intrigue around him and eventually his business crashes.  Eventually he realizes his daughter is the one that stands by him.  Over a century ago, but in some ways we still have a long way to go.

 "Good Newwz" takes the plot to an even more intimate level, but more than the others uses humor to make its point.   With the first couple (Kareena and Akshay) we are shown efforts to get pregnant with the wife being more determined.  Ovulation is monitored and the husband is required to drop what he is doing.  The most humorous incident might be on an airplane when they realize the most practical timing and end up in the airline toilet.  When the two couples meet there is a lot of antagonism, but it is demonstrated with a lot of misunderstandings.

Akshay is upset that his wife's baby is not his, but has no concern about the baby he impregnated.  The other couple looks at both babies as being connected to them.  Akshay thinks an abortion is the solution even though his wife may not be able to get pregnant again.  Kareena is reluctantly convinced to have an abortion, but when she is shown a ultra sound screen changes her mind. 

There is much resistance, but it breaks down.  Akshay's sister and brother in law are both lawyers and although they are the ones who suggested the fertility doctor they advise to do a contract.  The other couple, Diljit and Kaira have another contract that is opposite in some regards. Kareena and Akshay want no contact after birth while Diljit and Kiara want to set healthy standards of raising the other's child.  Kareena is concerned about the medical history of the sperm inside her and is told the information is confidential, but she should get to know the other couple.  Eventually they become emotionally involved with each other and when an unexpected crisis occurs all four are deeply engaged and this leads to a happy ending.

The common theme of the four movies covered is that although blood is important so is humanity.  We bring many cultural hangups that too often get in the way.  Children need loving parents and parents need to look at each child as special.

The cast and crew below have been involved with some of my all time favorites. 

Karan Johar, the King of Romance is the key producer. Some of his notable films as director and/or producer include "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai," (1998), "Kal ho naa ho." (2003) "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham," --with Kareena Kapoor, (2001) "The Lunchbox" (2013) and "My Name is Khan" (2010).

Raj Mehta, the director with his first feature after years of second unit, associate directing, acting, writing and directing/producing shorts.  Also contributed dialogue.

Jyoti Kapoor, writer with his first feature screenplay, but has contributed story ideas, including for a big hit, "Badhaii Ho" (2018) with an interesting theme involving parental sex.

The actors are listed left to right as in the photo cover above.

Kareena Kapoor Khan--has been in several memorable movies, but has also played a lot of vapid women.  I would say she is one of the better dancers and does show a little bit in this film.   Comes from a well known family in Bollywood.  Married Saif Ali Khan and has had one child.
Favorite movies of hers include "Jab we Met," (2007)  "3 Idiots," (2009) and "Talaash" (2012).

Akshay Kumar was a waiter, in Bangkok took up martial arts, asked to model and jumped into movies where he is a top box office star.   Has Canadian citizenship (actually campaigned with Stephen Harper.)   Akshay is a non smoker and participant in anti smoking campaigns, but is seen heavily smoking--to illustrate the harmful effects regarding fertility.  For the last decade he has been one of the most bookable Bollywood stars.  My attitude towards him has become much more respectful with such movies as "Special 26" (2013), "Airlift" (2016), "Rustom," (2016). "Toilet, A Love Story" (2017), "Pad Man" (2018), and "Gold" (2018).

Diljit Dosanjh started in Punjabi cinema, popular in comic roles, but has been in some serious Bollywood films such as "Soorma" (2018),  "Phillauri" (2017)  and "Uta Punjab" (2016--with Kareena Kapoor).

Kiara Advani starred in the big hit "Kabir Singh" (2019) and "M.S. Shoni:  The Untold Story" (2016).  Check:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/09/arjun-reddy-and-kabir-singh.html  

Adil Hussain, played the fertility doctor.  "English Vinglish (2012), Life of Pi (2012) and "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" (2012) "Tigers"   "What will people say" (Norway 2017), and "Kabir Singh" (2019).  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2019/09/arjun-reddy-and-kabir-singh.html

Tisca Chopra "Rayhasa" (2015) "Qissa:  Tale of a Lonely Ghost" (2013) "Like Stars on Earth" (2007).

My earlier views on Bollywood comedies are here:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2018/04/chalo-dilli-deals-with-snobbery.html