Netflix has picked up the 7-part miniseries Delhi Crime after the rousing reception it got at its premiere at the ongoing Sundance Film Festival. A fact-based retelling of the immediate aftermath of the Delhi gang-rape case from December, 2012, the show stars Shefali Shah, Adil Hussain, Rasika Dugal and Rajesh Tailang in the principal cast. Indo-Canadian director Richie Mehta is at the helm of this series.
According to this report in the Variety, Mehta came up with the idea for this police procedural during a conversation with former Police commissioner, Neeraj Kumar, who introduced Mehta to the primary investigation team along with hundreds of pages of legal documents pertaining to the case. The gruesome details of the case became symbolic for the (lack of) average Indian woman’s safety in the outdoors.
This miniseries comes right on the heels of Ivan Ayr’s Soni, the idea for which was birthed by the Delhi gangrape too. The film was praised for its empathetic portrayal of the Delhi police force and the subtle sexism that operates in everyday India and Delhi.
Delhi Crime was premiered at the indie episodic section of the Sundance Film Festival, where it was described as an ‘honest, emotional’ account for the ‘lived reality of women from around the world’.
Shefali Shah appeared only recently in the Netflix original film, Once Again, opposite Neeraj Kabi. This will be her second outing in a Netflix original. Delhi Crime will be available streaming on March 22, 2019.
