'Delhi Crime': Shefali Shah, Huma Qureshi Unpack Their Characters Ahead of Season 3

In a fittingly distressing week, a new season of Delhi Crime arrives. The International Emmy-winning Netflix series is back with its third edition on November 13, returning us to the doom and gloom of the national capital. Headlined by Shefali Shah, the previous two seasons, released in 2019 and 2022 respectively, were sinewy, sobering procedurals spun from real-world crimes (the 2012 Delhi gang rape in the first, the Kachcha Baniyan killings in the second). So, what manner of evil does Season 3 unravel?

The short answer: human trafficking. Directed by Tanuj Chopra and written by a team of six writers, the new season has a more expansive scope, with stops in Assam, Haryana, and, of course, Delhi. A rain-drenched teaser showed DIG Vartika Chaturvedi (Shah), stationed in Silchar on a punishment posting, intercepting a truck ferrying young girls to the mainland. Meanwhile, a parallel investigation—inspired by the 2012 Baby Falak case, where a two-year-old toddler was admitted to Delhi's AIIMS hospital in a severely injured state—snaps the various strands together.

Shefali Shah huffs when asked about her mindspace each time a new Delhi Crime arrives at her door. "I'm like, how much more harrowing will it get?"

On a serious note, she adds that her first response is always excitement, coupled with a yearning for authenticity. "It has to ring true," she says. Her feel for setting and characters is shared by the entire crew. "I remember, in the last season, we had an American director of photography, David Bolen. His refrain whenever something unlikely or unfamiliar happened was..."Vartika will never do it!" That's how close we got with the characters."

The globally acclaimed debut season of Delhi Crime was helmed by Ritchie Mehta. Taking over the reins, Chopra, a Columbia University School of the Arts graduate, was mindful of maintaining momentum, retaining the primary cast of characters, their conflicts, and the overall mood. "Viewers come for the case but fall in love with the characters. Their lives become our roadmap," he says.

"This is a show that makes your stomach churn but also touches you," Shah notes.

A guiding light in this regard has been IPS Chhaya Sharma, the former Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in Delhi who cracked the Nirbhaya case, and on whom Vartika is based. Yet, this may also be the show's biggest blind spot—the lack of an objective distance from the Delhi Force.

Tanya Bami, Series Head, Netflix India, defends the show's sympathetic portrayal of law enforcement personnel. If the cops in the series are humanised, she contends, so are the criminals, as witnessed in Season 2.

"We have quite intentionally opted for this grammar without dulling the intensity and seriousness of the crimes. If the cops are dealing with their jobs and the system, the criminals are also grappling with their circumstances and the world they come from. Delhi Crime sits at that fascinating confluence between crime and society." Apoorva Bakshi, producer, echoes this line. "I'm a defence kid and I did not know that in India, one constable is responsible for the safety of seven lakh people. That's the ratio."

One of the highlights of last season was Tillotama Shome as the primary antagonist. Filling that void, in Season 3, is Huma Qureshi as Badi Didi, the formidable, smooth queenpin of a transnational human trafficking ring.

As is her wont, Qureshi leapt at the opportunity. "I had so many questions about trafficking going in," the actor says. "How does it happen? What's the nexus like? What are the modes of transport? Tanuj sent me a lot of newspaper articles and pictures but then again, you have to make certain creative choices on your own."

Badi Didi's presence in the show evens the moral and dramatic scales, wagers Bami. "She's a powerful antagonist who is also a sharp businesswoman, so a part of you vicariously relates to her. Her actions become both uncomfortable yet thrilling to watch." A fair summation of Delhi Crime itself.