Spoilers ahead…
Tanuj Chopra is the director, and over five episodes, he and his writers expertly take us through the investigation of a series of murders in upscale neighbourhoods.
Season 1 of Delhi Crime was about the gang rape case of 2012, which occurred in Delhi. But it was equally about what it’s like to be a police officer. DCP Vartika, played by Shefali Shah, says these words: “One third of Delhi’s population lives in unauthorised slums and serves the elite, who earn the highest per capita income in India. Policing a city like this one is a complex task…” In other words, Season 2 is more of the same. You have to face the media, which will do anything for ratings, including the reveal of footage being used in an investigation. You have to face the public, which sometimes wants vigilante justice ASAP. You have to face your higher-ups, who say impossible things like “I want an answer in 24 hours”. But most of all, you have to face your family, the one that rarely sees your face.
You can read the rest of the review here:
https://www.galatta.com/hindi/movie/review/delhi-crime-season-2/
And you can watch the video review here:
Copyright ©2022 GALATTA.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Prat
August 26, 2022
Yay, you’re reviewing shows!!!
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vijay
August 26, 2022
do they whitewash all cops in these shows and show them as dedicated go-getters(like in movies) or do also portray the ineptness and corruption that largely exist there?
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krishikari
August 26, 2022
Looks like there is a world wide trend for women cop shows now that we have got over alcoholic male cops. While waiting for Delhi Crime season 2 to start I started watching Suzhal so will have to skip reading this review until much later unfortunately.
Will be also be getting a post about Suzhal? It is the other end of the policing spectrum compared to Delhi Crime, a small TN town in the western ghats and it has me hooked. Very atmospheric. @vijay in this one the main cop is quite matter of fact about accepting bribes from the town’s rich factory owner, but so far no ineptness.
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vijay
August 26, 2022
krishikari, OK. dont have time to even watch films these days, leave alone binging on TV shows. My past experience has been that it just always comes across as a poor man’s cinema-fix. They need to pick on themes and narratives that mainstream cinema does’nt in order to attract more eyeballs. Otherwise, plenty of mainstream thrillers (and especially in malaylaam these days) offer these police procedurals and with good actors as well.
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hari
August 26, 2022
krishikari – Suzhal I was disappointed, good premise, good production values, but rushed finale, ending was obvious from the get go. Too much of Amman imagery. Lot of red herrings. Good attempt though.
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lurker
August 26, 2022
@vijay – Hard disagree. Some stories need to be told in long form. Tv shows are no more a poor man’s cinema fix than novels are a poor man’s short story fix. ‘The Wire’ beats most movies in its social commentary, as does, closer home, ‘Paatal Lok’.
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Cholan Raje
August 26, 2022
Suzhal is meh. The twists feel forced and inorganic, and the villain’s identity feels obvious around the 6th episode. Also (SPOILERS) Trilok should’ve been arrested even if he didn’t do anything to Nila, given the way he touched those kids.
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brangan
August 26, 2022
hari: Same thoughts about SUZHAL. Didn’t quite work for me as a whole though I liked parts of it.
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krishikari
August 26, 2022
@lurker Exactly, just like short story vs. novel is not a competition, films and series have their unique qualities. It seems obvious that what a series can offer that a film may not, is enough time to develop many characters and to get quite deep into their lives. Time to slowly build and reveal the world, build the characters, their arcs can be slow, everything does not have to be condensed. But do they do this? I find that the new shows try to be so action packed and so full of twists that they forget that they have the luxury of time and can take it slowly. (I only see some Korean shows doing this. Our Blues was quite nice.) Mostly new English language shows rush from one happening to another as if they are afraid they will lose your attention. I found that Delhi Crime season one struck a good balance, and Suzhal is rushing things a bit but it’s still very good. I’m not finding it predictable at all so far. The setting is also really giving me all the feelings because its very familiar.
@hari I also thought there was too much of the Amman festival in the beginning but I kind of like it now. Some attention must to be paid to the non-veg gods.
Other series I have liked after Sacred Games are Leila, Pataal Lok and Jamtara. I still haven’t had time for either Family Man or Tandav.
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kaizokukeshav
August 26, 2022
Suzhal was cool until the end of the love story. It felt as if they want to add a few sensational topics in the end just to make it look woke. It ended as mediocre of both worlds without any psychological depth.
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nikkie1602
August 27, 2022
@brangan: Would love to read your take on Sacred Games!
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Nappinai (@Nappinai2)
August 27, 2022
I found Suzhal to be a solid series and I watched it at one-go. This was despite the fact that I didn’t think that the twists and turns were surprising. Like others have said, you could guess who the villain is mid-way but that didn’t spoil the show for me.
I did like the premise and the consistent writing. It seemed very Vikram Vedha to me in the sense you have this undercurrent of opposites in a story that seeks to mislead . So you have the guy who loves the town but knows nothing about it vs. the girl who hates the place but seems to truly understand it. This man is so clueless at the end that it spills over to his love life too! Similarly the story of the Parthiban couple who start by hating each other vs the DD couple who seem in love to begin with. Sometimes it came across as too consistent to feel authentic.
I got the sense that the red herrings made the show a bit flabby and it could have worked better had it been for just 5 episodes.
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Nappinai (@Nappinai2)
August 27, 2022
I enjoyed the mayana kollai scenes with the Amman ones that were a parallel to the Aishwarya character. They were well shot and done consistently well. Even the less obvious ones like the one scene where she is in a car and is slightly rocking back and forth is seen mirrored in the movements of the amman who is also being rocked. I liked things like that about this series.
Suzhal and Vikram were similar experiences for me. In both these cases, I enjoyed watching them despite knowing they have some flaws and aren’t as great as they are made out to be.
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Indira Ambur
August 27, 2022
Monsoon wedding was the first time I saw Shefali Shah … was it her? She has always been so good , anything she does or says looks great ! And the roles she picks are so perfect for her !
I got physically sick watching the Burari case on Netflix and almost thought Delhi crime 2 was about it !!
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rabie
August 27, 2022
you reviewed every movie and show except shamshera
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krishikari
August 27, 2022
@nappinai I feel the same, glad there is someone here who is not glibly dismissive. You have expressed very well how the different couples’ relationships shift during the narrative but the mother who left her young daughters remains a bit of a mystery. The show really was very well written and executed with complexity and depth. To be sure it had it’s flaws but for me it was far superior to the Raveeena Tandon series Aranyak which had very similar themes and settings.
Took me three evenings to watch this series of events which cover the seven days of mayana kollai and I was thinking about it in between too. Solid recommend.
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Rahul
August 27, 2022
Kathir says – this is my world, I know everything about it. Why should I give up this advantage by moving somewhere else? Aishwarya R says – Remember when I was in school, I had fits? They were anxiety attacks. I was cured when I moved out of here.
As I interpreted it, while for a man it might be a source of nostalgia and empowerment, as a female you have to negotiate the inherent misogyny in the over-familiarity of small town life, when at every nook and corner you find someone who is either eyeing you or keeping an eye on you. Ironically, she feels safer in Banglore where she can disappear in the crowd.
(Of course, later it was revealed that there was a specific reason for the fits)
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Kiran
August 27, 2022
@rabie
I’d still prefer a review of Ante Sundaraniki over Shamshera if BR gets the chance, hahah
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H. Prasanna
August 28, 2022
I think BR was sick and/or busy and skipped some movies. He also missed (escaped) Siva Karthikeyan’s Don. So, it’s been good for him, also.
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Nappinai (@Nappinai2)
August 28, 2022
@Krishikari: I felt the same about Suzhal being better than Aranyak despite similar conceit. Suzhal is a strong recommendation from my end as well!
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Nappinai (@Nappinai2)
August 28, 2022
Delhi Crime season 2 did not work very well for me. Spoliers ahead
This is a series that wants to hit all the right notes of liberalism and in the process sacrifices the tautness of a crime story. The first three episodes seem like a retake on Dheeran Adhigaram Ondru and when the eventual culprit’s last name is Solanki, you have seen it coming. The issue here is that a good 3 out of the 5 episodes are spent on setting up this facade. At no point is there anything for the audience to strongly believe that the tribes are the culprits, so it doesn’t even work as a red herring. Moreover, the first 3 episodes and last 2 episodes are disjointed and the stories of the injustice to the tribes vs the killers don’t even overlap. This kind of reduces the impact, IMO.
Similarly, the actual killer turns out to be a Danearys Targaryen meets Anushka Sharma’s Pari. Their dialogue towards the end is an echo of the opening lines of the series on inequality. But why should the story channel that anger through such gruesome violence on old people?
For some reason, Shefali Shah’s performance came across as one note. I don’t know why, maybe because she looked too attentive and full of importance all the time. It was becoming exhausting watching her. Also, I couldn’t get what she was doing to solve the case for a good part of the series.
It felt more like a social drama and less of a crime drama. I haven’t watched season 1, so I don’t know if this is how the show is set up. I went in expecting a solid crime series. It’s still a good watch though.
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vijay
August 28, 2022
“The first three episodes seem like a retake on Dheeran Adhigaram Ondru’
thats why i said they need to either pick on unique themes or make the treatment largely different so as to not feel like poor man’s cinema..most of these series dont do this..even that Rani Mukherjee film where she plays a foul mouthed cop after a serial killer has mined this territory before..
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MANK
August 28, 2022
Agree with Nappinai. this was tame and unremarkable. If you have watched enough slow burn Malayalam or Korean investigative thrillers, then this is downright meh. These slow paced thrillers with their ‘tang.. tang… tang’ background score is getting really tiresome. Also , getting tiresome is the social problem picture or in today’s times the social commentary picture (where every character takes turn to comment on privileges and rights) masquerading as thrillers. The big problem with this film are the villains\criminals, they are the worst bunch i have seen in recent times. very badly written. are they all Psychos or just blissfully amoral; or victim of circumstances, bad advertisement for saloons& beauticians anyway. I am really dying to watch a fast-paced thriller in all its purity that does not deliver social science lessons. Agree about Shefali Shah, her performance just didn’t register, Rasika Duggal, in her much smaller role, was more effective for me.
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krishikari
August 28, 2022
@ vijay, so only one film or series is enough for each topic? If you don’t even watch them, how will you know that each one does not have a unique perspective even if the subject is woman cop catches rapist? ‘Dheeran Adhigaram Ondru’ audience will have only a tiny overlap with ‘Delhi Crime’ audience. Mardaani was completely different, as was Suzhal, or any other show with similar themes. And Delhi Crime was completely different from White Tiger if you want to compare the theme of oppressed caste crime against oppressor caste.
SPOILERS
@Nappinai I have to disagree with you on some parts of what you say. I watched Delhi Crime all in one go last night and felt it was very taut and focused. I do agree on the “Shefali Shah’s performance came across as one note. I don’t know why, maybe because she looked too attentive and full of importance all the time.” Her family life is pretty boring so even though the scenes were unsatisfactory I didn’t want to see more. Her understanding husband vs. Neeti’s demanding one was a too neat contrast. However, I do enjoy watching her and Rasika Dugal was great, the “I’m here for you” line felt very shalllow even though I have seen season one and know they have a supportive relationship.
Tilotamma Shome was great at the end but setting up her character, the little tics and mannerisms and tough girl attitude made me think she was going for ‘Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ but that doesn’t mean this was not a unique character.
the stories of the injustice to the tribes vs the killers don’t even overlap
Yes more could have been done, I actually felt the season was not long enough to get into all the issues raised but I think they did a pretty good job of history and context in a very consise if slightly expositional way. The men in the real murder gang – only one was given a story though.
As far as I’m concerned the shows liberalism is welcome and it’s high time the theme of the huge population of resentful poor and their aspirations and frustration becomes a more common topic. I mean what other topic is there to talk about in India? The cops basically protect the wealthy upper castes, Shefali Shah’s character and her bosses are also upper caste, in this case she goes against the grain of her powerful tribe and refuses to scapegoat a weaker tribe. But in the end it’s still the defeat of the weak so I don’t think they made a huge and unrealistic liberalism win the day story.
But why should the story channel that anger through such gruesome violence on old people?
This is definitely based on true crime. Come on, they are hoarding wealth in the midst of poverty, confident that despite being old and vulnerable they are safe in a gated community. If anything the question is where was the security guard? It’s pretty natural to target the weak even if she did not have her personal grievances which are spelled out plainly. My parents were robbed in their own home village and they felt they had to move to a flat in the city to feel because they feared being killed in their beds. One of my college friends’ mother was brutally murdered by their domestic help in Delhi.
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krishikari
August 28, 2022
@MANK please recommend a slow burn Malayalam or Korean investigative thriller. I do think there were flaws in this but you are being unduly harsh.
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vijay
August 28, 2022
“so only one film or series is enough for each topic? ”
there are multiple well-made films in each topic not just one…if you are making a case for Mahabharat as a TV series then fine, but not on these themes of serial killer cops and crime stories when those same themes have been mined with a lot of skills with better production values and actors in films
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KS
August 28, 2022
@krishikari:
When she asks “Would you like to talk about it?” followed by “I’m here for you”, it just sounded so awkward. As if they got cued in on the sensitive way to do it from English movies, and copy-pasted it verbatim here. I mean, who talks like that in India?
I second @MANK that too many thrillers these days use the genre as a vehicle to push some woke social justice messages about privilege. Not that that in itself is a problem, but they’re so blatantly in-your-face about it, even explicitly using words like “privilege” in the dialogue, as if to tick boxes and make sure the stupid audience doesn’t miss their show of progressiveness. Talk about issues, sure, but at least be original about it instead of lifting buzzwords and ideas straight from western woke twitter. That whole detour about criminal tribes served no other purpose than to give a sermon, and wasted so much time that the actual genre part about finding the criminals turned into a damp squib, with the hasty investigation and uninteresting culprits.
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Sam
August 29, 2022
@MANK
What investigative thrillers did you enjoy the most in Korean/Malayalam/other languages?
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Sam
August 29, 2022
^others please feel free to pitch in as well 🙂
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Srinivas R
August 29, 2022
Loved the season 2 as well, thanks mainly to the stellar cast. Its impossible to keep up to the standards of season 1, but was a riveting watch nevertheless.
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amp
August 29, 2022
MANK…please do recommend.
My recommendations are all old movies.
Kaanathaya penkutty, Utharam, Kariyila kaatu pole, Yavanika. Very slow moving and tries ones’ patience, but worth it for the end reveal.
The best one of course is Manichitrathaazhu and Drishyam.
But my tastes are pretty old school. I don’t watch a lot of new mystery thrillers because they all seem to be an excuse to show violence and shock the audience.
Not interested in gore. So I keep searching for old movies that are tame.
PrithviraJ tried to make a bunch of them in the 00’s, but all were very predictable or so twisted that it insults ones’ intelligence. I didn’t like any of them.
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Ashok
August 31, 2022
“What investigative thrillers did you enjoy the most in Korean/Malayalam/other languages?”
Watch Memories of a Murder, a Korean film. It is both investigative and a thriller
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Nappinai (@Nappinai2)
September 2, 2022
@Krishikari: Good to know that Delhi crime season 2 worked really well for you. Like I said, it’s still a good watch but I don’t have much patience to consume moral sermons in crime thrillers. I guess MANK summed it up very well.
I had the same issue to a lesser extent with Suzhal as well. There, the problem for me was different from Delhi Crime. With Suzhal, I didn’t agree with some of the larger political narratives (painting mayana kollai as non-vedic and local vs Ram/Krishna) but I didn’t think it impeded the flow of the story. So, I didn’t mind. With Delhi crime, I was in agreement with the social commentary but felt it didn’t mesh with the story effectively.
Some of this I suspect is also colored by my bias against Bollywood since 2020. So, to some extent it has to do with things other than the merit of the series itself.
I am tired of the industry sermonizing. They want to lecture on smashing patriarchy while stifling discussions on casting couch. Similarly, they want to talk of societal inequality while stars take away tens of crores in disproportionate pay etc. I actually lost it the day Kareena decided to talk on patriarchy and RBG after having gyrated to mein tandoori murgi hoon yaar..
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Harry Singh
September 5, 2022
Unlike some folks here, I liked Delhi Crime (2). Sometimes you just want to watch a story being told and yes there are imperfections here and there, but they do not bug you as long as the overall narrative is decent. Add to that the well done Delhi atmosphere and that makes it quite enjoyable. Of course the DCP+daughter, other woman cop+husband story is a repetition from season 1 and can get boring, but it is the same people’s life, and maybe a change of cast (as suggested) will bring out newer topics next time (if there is a 3rd season).
The couple of times my eyebrows went up were
– when they reached the husband’s house because the outside seemed very similar to when they caught the old woman, especially the way the numbers were written – but I am not going to re-watch to check this.
– and when they had the street play going on – street plays take longer to organize IMO
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Kaushik Bhattacharya
February 21, 2023
Finally got around to watching this and I agree with BR’s final line, Delhi Crime and The Family Man are imo the best two TV/Web series to have come out of India. They get the acting, the settings, and the storytelling bang on. Looking forward to watching Farzi now.
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musical
February 21, 2023
From Sacred Games to ….. Delhi Crime 2 to Farji and Lost.
I watched sacred games reluctantly after postponing for years. An orgy of violence, vulgarity, sadism. Unsacred games? But the story, direction, acting etc. were captivating. This is the baap of all the web series that followed like Mirzapur, Pataal lok and the rest.
Apni kahani chodja song played throughout the last stretches of last episode of the 2nd season of Sacred Games.
Loved that old song which induced a trance like feeling which enhanced the viewing pleasure of that episode.
Checked that song’s history. It belonged to acclaimed film Do Bigha Zameen. Why did I miss this gem of a film for such a long time. Beautiful film by Bimal Roy.
I felt Boot Polish was influenced by Do Bigha Zameen. Somewhat filmy from the start. Ratan Kumar acted in both the movies. Who was Ratan Kumar? His actual name was Syed Nazir Rizvi who also acted in Jagruti which became famous for Pradeep’s song aao bachchon tumhe dikhaye…….vande mataram, vande mataram. Ratan Kumar worked in a couple of hindi films and migrated to Pakistan and acted in Pakistani films. He lost his 4 year old daughter and that tragedy made him quit films. He settled in California, and died in 2016. Citizen of 3 countries.
He was not extraordinary as a child actor but acted with some emotion and passion.
This is what can be called chain reaction. From Sacred Games to Ratan Kumar. And the discussion is about Delhi Crime 2.
Watched Delhi Crime first season which was not bad. Hoping to catch 2nd season. Wonder what if Vidya had done Shefali’s role?
Farzi is average and Lost is good mainly due to grandfather granddaughter bonding. Shahid Kapoor looked like Lost in Farzi while his dad Pankaj Kapoor looked like no Farzi but asli.
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musical
February 23, 2023
Season 2 of Delhi Crime is a good one time watch. The coldblooded murders cannot be justified by any logic, least of all a lame excuse of not giving loans and fulfilling dreams. Shome nailed the role as the sadistic criminal. Shefali was good as a no nonsense police officer. Guddu’s grandma was such a tough lady! The plot is clever and short duration of the season are plus points. In contrast Farzi with 8 episodes felt too long with an uninspiring hero and a tired looking villain.
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