Delhi Crime 3

Staying honest to its gritty and grounded base, the third season of the acclaimed police procedural tackles the interstate human trafficking of young girls and women. Shefali Shah returns as the unflinching police officer Vartika Chaturvedi, who has now been promoted to DIG but is on a ‘punishment’ posting in the North East. Inspired by the Baby Falak case of 2012, as the news of a battered infant left in the trauma centre of AIIMS assumes national importance, Madam Sir hits the ground running. She is joined by her reliable team, led by Neeti Singh (Rasika Dugal) and Bhupendra (Rajesh Tailang).

When ‘Delhi Crime Season One’ first dropped in 2019, it recreated a searing account of the horrific Nirbhaya rape and murder case with exceptional sense and sensitivity. Shefali Shah as DCP Vartika Chaturvedi, endearingly addressed as “Madam Sir”, completely won us over. ‘Season Two’ was an incisive anatomy of the mind of a serial killer, chillingly portrayed by Tillotama Shome.

A third season of a well-regarded series, especially when both the previous seasons have been equally sharp, has two ways to go: up or down. I’m happy to report that Delhi Crime Season 3 is as taut and gripping as the ones that preceded it – well done, Vartika Madam Sir, and co. Season 3 comes three years after the previous one, and this time around DCP Vartika Chaturvedi (Shefali Shah) currently posted in Silchar, Assam and her trusty colleagues, Bhupender Singh (Rajesh Tailang), Neeti Singh (Rasika Dugal), Jairaj Singh (Anuraag Arora), Vimla Bharadwaj (Jaya Bhattacharya) and a couple of others are up against the tough-as-nails human trafficker Badi Didi (Huma Qureshi) whose supply chain extends from Rohtak to Bangkok.

A hit series churning out multiple seasons is like a small startup that’s teased by old clients when it becomes a unicorn. It invites those classic jibes: “oh you’re too big for us now” and “boss you’ve changed”. After the success of Season 1 of Delhi Crime, most viewers went into Season 2 anticipating this change — maybe it’ll be safer, more templatised, splashier and simpler. But despite a creator shuffle, Season 2 not only reinforced an honest personality and forensic gaze, it also addressed criticisms of the first season by humanising its Delhi Police characters — warts, blind spots and all — rather than glorifying them. The popularity, if anything, made it more introspective.

देश को प्रतिष्ठित अंतरराष्ट्रीय एमी अवॉर्ड दिलाने वाली पहली भारतीय वेब सीरीज ‘दिल्‍ली क्राइम’ अपने तीसरे सीजन के साथ दर्शकों के बीच पहुंच चुकी है। पहले दो सीजन में क्रमश: दिल्ली के जघन्य निर्भया रेप केस और कच्छा बनियान गैंग की पड़ताल के बाद इस बार यह मानव तस्करी का संवेदनशील मुद्दा उठाती है। सीरीज की कहानी पिछले सीजन से ही आगे बढ़ती है, जहां नॉर्थ ईस्ट में पोस्टेड डीआईजी वर्तिका चतुर्वेदी (शेफाली शाह) हथियारों से भरा ट्रक गुजरने की खबर का पीछा करती है। लेकिन उनके हाथ लगती हैं ट्रक में भरी दर्जन भर लड़कियां। इन कम उम्र की लड़कियों को नौकरी दिलाने के नाम पर दिल्ली और हरियाणा ले जाकर बेचा जाना था। ऐसे में, वर्तिका इस रैकेट को पकड़ने वापस दिल्ली पहुंचती है। इधर, दिल्ली में दो साल की मासूम बच्ची नूर को एक औरत मरणासन्न हालत में एम्स अस्‍पताल में छोड़कर जाती है, जिसकी छानबीन एसीपी नीति सिंह (रसिका दुग्गल) कर रही होती है। जल्द ही बेबी नूर और लड़कियों की तस्करी के दोनों मामले आपस में टकराते हैं। इनमें बड़ी दीदी (हुमा कुरैशी) के लिए काम करने वाले राहुल (अंशुमान पुष्कर) और कल्याणी (मीता वशिष्ठ) का नाम आता है।

When the first season of Delhi Crime was released on Netflix back in 2022, the series, however much difficult it was to watch, won over the audience for its raw and authentic portrayal of a case that had shocked the entire world. The Nirbhaya gang rape case, formed the base of the Delhi Crime plot and director Richie Mehta presented a very real picture of how the case was first ignored by the Delhi Police and then cracked. The show opened up a new genre of thriller for the Indian audience- one which feels almost real and yet is fictionalised. It also gave us a new heroine, supercop Vertika Singh – played by Shefali Shah- a no-nonsense, honest police officer with a sharp mind, calm demeanour and one who brings apathy into the otherwise cold, corrupt Police force. Vartika Singh comes back in Delhi Crime Season ,3 and while her core characteristics are intact, she is now more hardened – perhaps due to circumstances or age. Vartika is now posted in Silchar, Assa,m but a case of human trafficking and search for a certain Badi Didi (Huma Quereshi) brings her back to the national capital.

The law of diminishing marginal utility is perilously close to catching up with Delhi Crime. The Netflix series, widely regarded as the gold standard in storytelling, and not just in the OTT space, ups the ante in terms of scale — the new season travels from Silchar in Assam to Rohtak in Haryana, with Delhi as its epicentre — and players (Huma Qureshi features as the antagonist this time around), but doesn’t offer anything that is remotely novel. Why fix something that ain’t broke, you may ask. Truth be told, in this era of increasing competition for viewer eyeballs and decreasing levels of audience attention, bringing in something new, even within the limits of a tried-and-tested format, is #basic.