Delhi Crime - Season 3 - Blunt, but still sharp

Delhi Crime - Season 3

Hindi - Crime/Thriller
6 Episodes ~ 50 min
Netflix

Delhi Crime has been one of Netflix’s most compelling Indian police procedurals. Each season pulls us into a grim, real-world investigation — Season 1 covered the “Nirbhaya” case, Season 2 tackled the “Chaddi Baniyan” dacoity saga, and now Season 3 takes on the chilling “Baby Falak” case.

Vartika Chaturvedi (Shefali Shah) is now posted in Assam and is investigating an arms-smuggling case when she encounters a bus full of young women — the first thread of a large trafficking network. At the same time, a young child is admitted to AIIMS New Delhi in a precarious condition by a young woman.

Vimla(Jaya Bhattacharya), Jairaj (Anurag Arora) and Neeti (Rasika Duggal) – the team Vartika left behind in Delhi begins to investigate that angle, while Vartika is working with Bhupender (Rajesh Tailang) after learning that another truck in the trafficking ring made a drop in Azadpur Market. Soon enough, the cases connect and the team unites team to rescue another batch of girls and track down the mysterious Badi Didi (Huma Qureshi).

The writing is more ambitious this time as the plot unveils across different locations in Assam, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi and Mumbai. Yet, in spite of only six episodes, the plot still meanders in the middle and lacks the gut punch and stomach-turning impact that Season 1 delivered. 

With more impactful sequences (the confrontation between the two strong women leaders could have been explored) this could have been far more gripping. There are some dialogues, especially from the women antagonists on their justifications of the trafficking (promise of a better life?) these could have been better explored perhaps with deeper back stories.

Cinematography is absolutely stunning. The orange hue in the jail/prison scenes is frame-worthy.

For all the misses in the writing - the cast is uniformly good - Rasika Dugal gets a good character arc, now being a “senior” cop, and does very well. Rajesh Tailang, though given very little to do, is reliable. Shefali Shah is not bad, but her emotional reactions are oddly exaggerated. For a cop who has seen it all, her wide-eyed, open-mouthed gasping feels a little incongruous with the gravitas her character otherwise carries.

Mita Vashisht chews up her part as Kalyani — outstanding as Badi Didi’s recruiter. Yukti Thareja as Simran, the Rohtak cop, is very good in a short but impactful role. The scene-stealer is undoubtedly Huma Qureshi as the vile, powerful, devilish Badi Didi. I cannot fully confirm the authenticity of her Haryanvi accent, but as the foul-mouthed, strong-willed Meena, she is a chilling antagonist.

The overall pacing, though uneven, is balanced by moments of genuine tension. Season 3 is competent and watchable, without ever being unforgettable, the way Season 1 was.