Introduction

Delhi Crime is an Indian crime drama streaming television series written and directed by Richie Mehta. casting director Radhesh More and produced by Golden Karaven, Ivanhoe Productions, Film Karavan and Poor Man's Productions Starring Shefali Shah, Rasika Dugal, Adil Hussain and Rajesh Tailang, the series is set in the aftermath of the 2012 Delhi gang rape.

After developing a 400-page script, he narrated the cast to Shefali for five minutes who accepted to play the titular character Vartika Chaturvedi. The shooting of the film took place in Delhi in January 2018 and was completed within the course of 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 on 22 March 2019. It received mostly positive response from critics praising the script, premise and performance of the main cast members. At the International Emmy Awards held in September 2020, Delhi Crime received the award for Outstanding Drama Series becoming the first ever Indian series to win this award. The show was renewed for a second season with the main cast returning.

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Synopsis

Delhi Crime is based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape case that took place in the neighbourhood of Munirka, in South Delhi. 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.

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Cast

• Shefali Shah as DCP Vartika Chaturvedi
• Rasika Dugal as Neeti Singh (IPS Trainee)
• Aakash Dahiya as Devinder
• Adil Hussain as Kumar Vijay (CP)
• Rajesh Tailang as Inspector Bhupendra Singh
• Denzil Smith as Vishal Chaturvedi
• Yashaswini Dayama as Chandni
• Avijit Dutt as Gururaj Dixit
• Gopal Datt as Sudhir Kumar
• Sanjay Bishnoi as Akash
• Mridul Sharma as Jai Singh
• Jaya Bhattacharya as Vimla Bharadwaj
• Swati Bhatia as Ira
• Anurag Arora as Jairaj
• Vinod Sharawat as SHO Vinod Tiwari
• Ayush Sehgal as Arunesh
• Rhea Bedi as Smriti
• Abhilasha Singh as Deepika
• Gaurav Rana as SHO Rakesh Verma
• Govind Singh as Amar Singh
• Vipin Katyal as Arif
• Ashok Mehta as Lead Protester

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Episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	1	"Episode 1"	Richie Mehta	Richie Mehta	22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)
Two victims of a brutal crime were found on the roadside. As the investigation starts DCP Vartika Chaturvedi finds lapses of department. She makes a team of her best officers to investigate the crime and catch the perpetrators as fast as can be.
2	2	"Episode 2"	Richie Mehta	Richie Mehta	22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)
As the leads come in the investigating team focuses on the bus in which the crime was committed. When they find the bus they have their first perpetrator of the crime. Media leaks trigger backlash against police.
3	3	"Episode 3"	Richie Mehta	Richie Mehta	22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)
The team finds blood in the bus. The bus driver Jai Singh confesses the crime and gives gory details of the crime. Another team goes to Mehrauli to find Jai Singh's brother. They catch Vikas and Brajesh through the suspects' neighbour and Amar from Rajasthan through his other brother.
4	4	"Episode 4"	Richie Mehta	Richie Mehta	22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)
The team now knows the possible whereabouts of Alok the fifth perpetrator in Aurangabad, Bihar. Meanwhile, the high court takes up the public interest litigation on the crime as public protests continue. The sixth suspect is still elusive and hunt for him intensifies.
5	5	"Episode 5"	Richie Mehta	Richie Mehta	22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)
The condition of the victim is not good. The DCP is facing public and media wrath as well as political fall out. A team sent to Naxalite infected area reaches the home of Alok. CM demands the resignation of Police Commissioner Vijay. The sixth suspect Sonu is still elusive.
6	6	"Episode 6"	Richie Mehta	Richie Mehta	22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)
The police safeguard culprits from public anger. Two suspects attempt suicide inside cell. The team gone to Bihar travels to Jharkhand to in-laws home of Alok. The search for Sonu escalates. Male victim Akash is planning to appear on TV. Vartika advises him to avoid media at that stage of investigation. Meanwhile, Sonu is spotted in a bus going to Gurgaon.
7	7	"Episode 7"	Richie Mehta	Richie Mehta	22 March 2019 (2019-03-22)
Sonu is caught on bus stand. He turns out to be a minor. The protest turns violent so PC orders lathi charge. The victim records her official statement in presence of a magistrate. Alok is apprehended from his home in Bihar. The government orders a judicial enquiry into conduct of police. Vartika is informed that Jai Singh has committed suicide in jail.

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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 (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. 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, Adil Hussain and Rasika Dugal were a part of the prominent cast members in the serie, with whom Mehta worked in their first feature film Amal (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 because his visits to the locales would have spread the word that he was getting Delhi Crime being made for his glorification.

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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. Netflix 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.

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Reception

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The first season received universal acclaim upon its release. On Rotten Tomatoes, 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 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 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 of The Indian Express 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 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 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 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 called it: " gut-wrenching, stylishly directed, passionately performed, and most important, not at all exploitative." Avinash Ramachandran of The New Indian Express – 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 from The Hindu 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."

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Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2019	iReel Awards	Best Drama Series	Delhi Crime	Won
		Best Actress -Drama	Shefali Shah	Won
		Best Supporting Actor	Rajesh Tailang	Nominated
		Best Writing -Drama	Richie Mehta	Won
2020	International Emmy Awards	Best Drama Series	Delhi Crime	Won
2019	Asian Academy Creative Awards	Best Drama Series	Delhi Crime	Won
		Best Actress in a Leading Role	Shefali Shah	Won
		Best Original Programme (Streamer)	Delhi Crime	Won
		Best Direction (Fiction)	Richie Mehta	Won

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Future

Richie Mehta said that Delhi Crime will be an anthology series and the next season will have same characters but with a different crime story. Shah will reprise her role as DCP Vartika as well along with other main characters. The series was officially announced on their 2021 Netflix slate of original contents announced in March 2021.