Television series

Delhi Crime

Name: Delhi Crime
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: 2019
Cast: Shefali Shah, Rajesh Tailang, Rasika Dugal, Anurag Arora, Jaya Bhattacharya

Delhi Crime follows a hardened female police officer and her team investigating brutal crimes across India's capital. It's procedural but intimate—less about solving mysteries than about the psychological weight of the work, the politics that constrain it, and how violence marks everyone it touches. For viewers who want crime drama with real stakes and a setting that feels lived-in.

TVMaze rating

3.6

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a procedural that treats investigators as tired, human people and lets the grinding, unglamorous work carry the weight, with Shefali Shah's lead anchoring every scene.

Skip it if you need a crime show that moves fast and delivers neat reveals, since this one takes its time and spends much of its running length on the bureaucracy and emotional toll around the case.

What it asks of you: Eighteen episodes across three seasons, each around 48 minutes, so you need to settle in for a long, patient, often sombre watch rather than a quick binge.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

MINDHUNTER2017

FBI profilers pioneer criminal psychology in the 1970s. Like Delhi Crime, it's about the exhaustion of understanding evil—how it seeps into you, how bureaucracy strangles the best work. Methodical and unsettling.

But Slower than a standard crime show. Long stretches where nothing 'happens,' just conversation and dread. Season two loses momentum.

The Wire2002

Baltimore's institutions—police, drugs, politics, schools—shown from inside with brutal honesty. Shares Delhi Crime's refusal to give you easy answers or heroes, its insistence that systems fail people, not the reverse.

But Five seasons, dense with characters. Requires attention. The first few episodes can feel scattered if you're used to faster storytelling.

Bodyguard2018

A UK police thriller about protection detail, conspiracy, and a cop pushed to his limits. Fast-moving where Delhi Crime is patient, but shares its interest in institutional betrayal and the cost of doing the right thing badly.

But More conventional thriller than procedural. If you want character depth over plot surprises, this tilts the wrong way.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Delhi Crime

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Raat Akeli Hai2020

Both capture Delhi's institutional venality and the moral exhaustion of policing within it. Siddiqui's detective inhabits the same moral grey space as Shah's Vartika.

A noir-tinged murder mystery set in 1960s Delhi with Nawazuddin Siddiqui as a detective in a world of corruption and secrets. Same city, same era-spanning institutional rot, but told as a tense, intimate thriller rather than procedural.

But Crime mystery rather than crime drama—plot matters more than character. Streaming release may have worked against it. Some pacing issues in the second half.

Godless2017

A woman sheriff in a town run by women investigates a murder. Unconventional perspective, strong ensemble cast, and real interest in how power and protection work. Visually stunning too.

But Only one season. Western trappings might feel like genre dressing if you want pure crime. Some resolutions feel neat for such a morally ambiguous show.

Mare of Easttown2021

Kate Winslet as a small-town detective working a murder while her own life fractures. Character-driven crime drama that understands exhaustion and compromise. Excellent pacing across seven episodes.

But Accents can be thick. The mystery is less important than the character study, which some find frustrating. Quite bleak.

Zodiac2007

Fincher's obsessive procedural about the hunt for the Zodiac killer. Not interested in thrills—it's about the slow erosion of obsession, the way a case can consume a detective. Methodical and hypnotic.

But Over two hours and deliberately paced. No catharsis. The ending may feel unsatisfying if you need closure. Extremely dark.

Unforgiven1992

Eastwood's meditation on violence and the men it breaks. What matters isn't the crime but the moral weight of action. It shares Delhi Crime's refusal to glorify the badge or the gun.

But Western, so the setting and syntax are unfamiliar. Violent in ways that sit with you. Slow for an action film.

Memories of Murder2003

Bong Joon-ho's Korean procedural about detectives hunting a serial killer in the 1980s. Like Delhi Crime, it captures the era, the corruption, the helplessness of good cops in broken systems. Haunting and beautifully made.

But Subtitled. Takes its time. The investigation matters less than the psychological toll. No neat resolution—ambiguity is the point.

The Descendants2011

Both examine how institutional and personal systems fail people. Vartika's investigation parallels the father's reckoning with what he didn't see. Both find dark humour in institutional absurdity.

Alexander Payne's film about a Hawaiian lawyer dealing with his wife's infidelity while managing family land disputes. Completely different surface, but the same engine: an investigation into what we think we know about people we're close to, and how systems betray individuals.

But American comedy-drama, nothing like Delhi Crime's tone. Slower and more personal than procedural. If you want crime resolution, this offers life confusion instead.