To be a woman means to multitask. Even if you are one of India’s most sought after actors with an international Emmy award under her belt.

Shefali Shah is at the Netflix Mumbai headquarters where we are to interview her about her return as DCP Vartika Chaturvedi, chief investigating officer in crime drama Delhi Crime’s second season. She is juggling a domestic hurdle on the phone with her family. Her sons Maurya and Aryaman, are unwell, as is her mother-in-law. She is instructing a staffer about medication and the day’s menu. Two minutes later, she takes on the first question with the focus and passion we expect from her.

Co-stars on the show, Rasika Dugal and Rajesh Tailang sit beside her, both hailed for their portrayal of officer Neeti Singh and Inspector Bhupendra Singh respectively. Core members of the show’s team that cracks a rape and assault case, inspired by the 2012 Delhi gang rape that led to the death of a 23-year-old woman, resulting in national outrage.

“Reprising a role is always interesting. It’s like meeting an old friend,” Dugal thinks, “You know them [the characters] fundamentally, but they have moved on with their lives. It’s a mix of familiarity and unfamiliarity. Also, they are responding to different events. Neeti starts off as a sincere, idealistic, and wide-eyed cop who wants to impress Vartika. Now, she is more lived in, and easy about her job. This [evolution] also comes with a bit of jadedness. I shadowed a real policewoman as prep for season 1, and then again for season 2. She seemed to be in the same position that Neeti finds herself in. I saw the difference in her from bring trainee officer to ACP,” says Dugal, a satisfied smile  refusing to leave her face.

Shah listens to her intently. She admits she is “deeply possessive” about her character. “I think it’s one of the best things I have done. And I was anxious if I could fill those shoes again.” This is an actor who has only done stellar work in the interim, recently wowing audiences as a domestic help in Jalsa, and the mother of a domestic abuse survivor in Darlings.

“Vartika became larger than life—we made a show, we created her—we didn’t know she would go where she went. I thought to myself, ‘how can I top that?’ When I got back into the role on set, she came back to me... as if she never left. Slipping into the uniform does that to you,” Shah muses.

While in the show’s first season, Shah thinks, the trio was obsessed with solving the case, this time around, their approach is practical, because “they do this every day”.

For Tailang, like Shah, having a finger on the pulse of the character once again was a worry. “Things changed, the case has changed. But, Bhupendra isn’t a man to change. His struggle is to remain the way he is. For an actor, a character is not a statue you reveal. You sculpt it for the audience as you go along, revealing bits of it in every scene.”

This is not the first time that Tailang is dabbling in a crime drama. He has directed scores of episodes of Indian television’s iconic dramatised crime series inspired by real episodes, India’s Most Wanted.  

 

This time, the trio is grappling with a gang that had caused havoc in Delhi in the 1990s. The Chaddi Baniyan Gang was notorious for attacking homes at night, especially those housing senior citizens. They’d wear little else, but underclothes and face masks, slathering their bodies with oil or mud to protect their identities and give the cops a slip. They would urinate or defecate at the crime scene before they left, some said, to mislead sniffer dogs, and their killings were almost always ruthless.

A bungalow in South Delhi has been attacked in season 2, and four bodies are found. Those summoned to the crime scene are aghast at the brutal behaviour of the culprits. Despite the criminal groups’ notoriety, Shah says, “I had never heard of this gang. I said, ‘Oh my god, really!’ As information arrived to me through the material for the show, I was able to understand that this kind of human behaviour is not isolated. It’s the result of everything that is happening around. It’s not about one bad person [responsible for it]. That’s the strength of Delhi Crime; it brings forth the social situations that influence certain happenings.”   

  

All three actors agree that this show has helped them see the Indian police force in new light.  It’s easy to play the blame game, Shah says. “The police are the punching bag each time something goes wrong. As a civilian, I too have been quick to reprimand the police. Now, I think I come from a place of empathy. [The show] humanises the police,” says Dugal.

Rasika Dugal: You can’t describe it, it’s entirely experiential. That’s the beauty of it

Shefali Shah: I got so engrossed, that there was nothing left to take back with me once I was done

Rajesh Tailang: The way I quickly got into character, is how I got out of it too

Having carved a niche for himself with critically acclaimed projects like Mirzapur and Pagglait (2021), actor Rajesh Tailang is all set to mark his debut as a writer with a compilation of poetry, titled Chaand Pe Chai. Though he had no plans of publishing his work earlier, it was the response that he received from social media that nudged him to don the hat of a professional poet.

He elaborates, “With the onset of the digital age, I began putting up my poems online. That’s when people began reacting to them, which encouraged me. Thereafter, I started a YouTube channel, where I started a series on poetry called Chaand Pe Chai, primarily for love poems. That has taken the form of a book now.”

What makes this passion project even more special for him is a note penned by lyricist Gulzar on the cover. Talking about how the veteran inspired him, Tailang says, “My initial poems are largely influenced by Gulzar saab’s work. With time and maturity, I learnt to grasp his art, craft, approach, understanding, and philosophy and not his form and content. This book would have been released earlier, but I was waiting for him to write something on the cover. That’s my greatest blessing.”

So, how did he discover his passion for writing poetry? “Maine pyaar mein kavitayein likhna shuru kiya tha. I wrote my first poem when I was 17 and I would send them to the women I loved,” Tailang says.

Quiz him about the millennial audience’s appetite for yesteryear poets and the Bandish Bandits actor shares, “The age of social media and information has helped the young audience be acquainted with the works of legendary poets. But, we often end up taking this easily available information for granted. And sometimes, the information is wrong as well.”

Shefali Shah's Vartika Chaturvedi is based on Chhaya Sharma, former DCP South, who led the probe. Shefali says, “I met her just once for two hours and I had so many questions about the investigation and she graciously answered all of them. Before me, Richie had met Chhaya mam, Neeraj Kumar (the then Commissioner of Delhi Police) and other officers several times and a lot of research went into creating the character of Vartika Chaturvedi. For me, it was not about replicating Chhaya Sharma. It was about creating Vartika as a person, but with the same values and the same work ethics.”

Shefali adds, “Not just now when the series has won Emmys, but Vartika Chaturvedi has always been very close to me. It is one of the most important characters of my life. I am extremely possessive and consumed by this role, I don't think you can leave behind a character like hers.”

Shefali says that when she landed at the Delhi airport to shoot this series, “I had this really strange feeling in my stomach because this was the city where this crime happened.” She says, “And when you go from the airport to the city, you cross all those areas where the crime had happened — Mahipalpur, Vasant Kunj bus stop — and it was so uncanny. In fact, when I left Mumbai to shoot for this series, I was told by the three men in my life — husband and two sons — to not go out at night. We were shooting at real locations, it was an uncanny feeling. There was this sense of dread that it all happened where we are shooting.”

Adil Hussain says that he is thrilled and feels vindicated that the series has won an Emmy. He says, “The most important aspect of this series is that it generates empathy. I remember in 2012, I was shooting in Delhi when we heard about this horrific crime. I was extremely disturbed and I was glad that people came out on the streets to question the police. But years later, when I did this series, I realised the work police was doing. The best part of art is that it makes you see the other side of the story. We must hold police accountable when they are not efficient, but at the same time, we must empathise with them.”

Talking about his role, Adil says, “I had met Neeraj Kumar and we had long sessions a couple of times. Basically, the easy part was that he or any of those people (investigating the case), who were in a prominent position at that time, were not public figures. Their faces and personalities were not known and that was to my advantage as in I didn’t have to fit in to a particular public image. I only had to maintain the dignity and the stature of the Delhi police commissioner. But what I learned from him (Neeraj Kumar) was the kind of pressure that he was going through to protect his subordinates and the bureaucratic pressure on him. Those things were what I understood from him.”

He adds, “I remember after the series was released, Chhaya Sharma told me that she liked my character and complimented me.”

Rajesh Tailang, who had worked with Richie Mehta before Delhi Crime, says that when they started working on this project, they didn’t of course imagine that it will get an Emmy. “Ek vision tha Richie ka, uss pe sab log saath mein kaam kar rahe thay. We, who are from Delhi, are emotionally attached to the series because we were here in 2012. Almost 20 years back, I used to direct India’s Most Wanted, so I had an idea of how the Delhi Police functions. My character is based on Rajendra Singh, whom I had met several times and that was my preparation for the character. Rajendra Singh has retired as ACP a month ago.”

Rajesh adds, “I tried to capture the man behind the uniform while essaying the role of Bhupendra Singh. Just because someone wears a uniform, it doesn’t mean that the person behind that uniform ceases to exist. He has his personal issues and is trying to strike a balance between his personal and professional lives. When we see police portrayal on screen, it is either Simmba or a villain. There is nothing in between.”

Rajesh says that he wanted to understand from police officials how they deal with the dichotomies they face. "Main yeh samajhna chahta tha ki main police ka hoon, aur criminal mere saamne hai. Saza dena toh police ka kaam nahi hai, woh court ka kaam hai. Kabhi kabhi aise cases aate hai ki woh (police) saza dena chahe, lekin woh law se bandhe hue hain. Toh aapka ek struggle hota hai — aapke emotions ke saath aur aapki duty ke saath. Aur ek public pressure hota hai ki aap turant saza de do. Ek achcha officer toh wohi karta hai jo in sab officers ne kiya iss case mein, ki aap ek full-proof case banao.”

Rasika Dugal says that being Neeti Singh was a special experience for her. “It reminds me of my college days. The kind of idealism Neeti has, the kind of world view she has to make the world a better place with her sincerity and hard work — I used to have that idealism when I was a student of Delhi University at LSR. Neeti Singh makes me revisit that idealism.”

Talking about the preparation for her role, Rasika says, “I shadowed an IPS officer who was a probationer because Neeti Singh is at the same position. I felt it would help me understand what their day looks like, how they function and what are the things that they learn everyday when they are in training. So, I hung around with her. Just spending four days at a police station was a lifechanging experience. There are so many decisions that a police personnel has to take, so many people come for help. It was fascinating for me to be a part of that world even for four days.”

She adds, “As the show progressed, Neeti was also beginning to realise that the system is not as simple as she probably thought from the outside. There are many things that you have to negotiate, there are several disappointements, and your idealism takes a beating. I was very fortunate to find officers who gave me time and allowed me to be a part of their day.”

Rasika says the same officer whom she shadowed gave her feedback on the role. “When I called her after the show came out, she told me that ‘in terms of protocols, you got it absolutely right’ and as an artiste, it means a lot. Especially when playing a police officer, my desire is to get every detail right.” Rasika says that Delhi Crime gave her a chance to work with the most sensitive collaborators that she knows. She adds, “The kind of sensitivity that Richie brought to his writing and direction is something for which I have huge admiration for. Having had the opportunity to collaborate with people like this is a very special experience in my creative journey.”