Delhi Crime review: An incredibly stunning triumph at all levels

 

Delhi Crime review: An incredibly stunning triumph at all levels

Rating: 4.5 stars 

What: A realistically gut wrenching account on how the Delhi Police nabbed the culprits of the heinous inhuman 2012 Delhi gang rape.

Where: Netflix

When: March 22, 2019

Lead Cast: Shefali Shah as DCP Vartika Chaturvedi. Rajesh Tailang as Inspector Bhupendra Singh. Rasika Dugal as Neeti Singh. Abhilasha Singh as Deepika. Mridul Sharma as Jai Singh.

Writer: Richie Mehta

Director: Richie Mehta

Headline: OTT web series Delhi Crime based on the infamously inhuman 2012 Delhi gang rape by Richie Mehta starring Shefali Shah is a triumph at multiple levels.

Delhi Crime synopsis

Based on the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case, Delhi Crime is an honest no frills attached day by day account of the extraordinary valor and sense of duty displayed by the team of Delhi Police Vartika Chaturvedi (Shefali Shah). How they fought all the hurdles of poor infrastructure, red-tapism, mounting public pressure, politics, etc in their way.

OTT web series Delhi Crime review

In December 2012, the name Nirbhaya was on everyone’s lips. Delhi was cursed as a ‘rape capital’ everybody was fuming with anger and range there was an urgency to take strong immediate action asap.

Delhi Crime by Richie Mehta – the creator, writer and director of the Netflix original web series tells the story from the Delhi Police angle. A triumph in filmmaking, this terrifically engaging web series is fast paced day by day, scene by scene account. Illustrating the excellence of its artiste and the outstanding brilliance of the writer director, Delhi Crime strikingly establishes the nuances of its characters by adapting a disciplined no nonsense mood.

The idea not to sensationalize by going into the graphic details of the gory insane inhuman crime, Richie Mehta takes a great decision of not showing the heinous crime and instead along with its developers Laurence Bowen & Toby Bruce concentrates primarily on developing the anxiety/thrills in a subtle dialogue-driven thriller.

Richie Mehta (Amal - 2007, Siddarth – 2013, previous who reportedly denied making a film to 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. But later after reading the documents was stunned by the precision with which this case was solved and decided to go ahead.

Richie Mehta has reportedly met the officers and gone through a diligent research to make this web series and the effect gets reflected periodically while one is watching.

Performance

Shefali Shah, as Vartika, is a tour de force. Delivering a perfect example of grace wrapped in excellence.

Rajesh Tailang as Inspector Bhupendra Singh is terrific.

Rasika Dugal as Neeti Singh is competent as ever.

Abhilasha Singh as Deepika is superb.

Mridul Sharma as Jai Singh is solid.

Other actors also chip in with solid support. Adil Hussain as Kumar Vijay. Denzil Smith as Vishal Chaturvedi. Yashaswini Dayama as Chandni. Avijit Dutt as Gururaj Dixit, Gopal Datt as Sudhir Kumar, Sanjay Bishnoi as Akash and Jaya Bhattacharya as Vimla Bharadwaj.

Technicalities

A well polished product. Cinematography by Johan Heurlin Aidt captures the micro macro approach perfectly by showing the aerial shots of the city in the beginning and then getting into the interiors in different shades of day and night as the culprits are nabbed one by one. Editing by Beverley Mills is crisp. Mukesh Chhabra’s casting is perfect. Production design by Mandar Nagaonkar is authentic capturing the aura of the city marvelously. Costume design by Smriti Chauhan is realistic. Liz Gruszka’s make up is remarkable. Music by Andrew Lockington is in sync with the atmosphere.

Any memorable dialogue/scene

The interrogation scenes. The moments between DCP Vartika Chaturvedi and her daughter. The chemistry between Vartika and her team members especially between Inspector Bhupendra Singh played by Rajesh Tailang.

Scene that should have been deleted at once

None

Flaws

Shown from the Delhi Police angle, this may not be comfortable for some people.

Final words

Missing Delhi Crime is a non bail able offence. This should certainly in the list of things to watch before you die for those who are keen on realistic, no frills crime drama’s.