UNPALATABLE TRUTHS

handled crime drama, superior to some of the real-life crime dramas on television (some of which are not bad at all) mainly for the level of performance director Mehta gets out of the cast especially Shefali Shah.

But it doesn't achieve that level of emotional impact that I expected from the product considering the fine talent that's gone into it.

There are two reasons why Delhi Crime stops short of being a masterpiece on real-life crime. For one, it holds back way too much of the angst probably to appeal to a global audience. The attempt to subdue the sheer insanity of the crime is admirable but eventually a fatal error of judgment.

DELHI CRIME (Netflix)

STARRING: Shefali Shah, Rasika Dugal

DIRECTOR: Richie Mehta HHHH

It isn't easy being on the right side of the law when all you get for your efforts is brickbats and insults from fence sitters.

To say that this disturbing but finally redundant real-life crime drama whitewashes the khaki uniform, would be frivolous and irresponsible to the extreme. What it does do, is to humanise the police force by showing a cluster of fiercely committed police

Kesari

STARRING: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra

DIRECTOR: Anurag Singh

HHHH

Twenty one soldiers holding off thousands of invaders… sounds filmy? But here is the thing. Life's lessons learnt from history prove that truth can indeed be stranger than fiction. And why just stranger? Truth is far more stimulating and enriching too. Kesari proves it, digging out a little-known, uncelebrated chunk of unbelievable bravery, in the Battle of Saragarhi. Unlike the imposters that stalk the silver screen with their phoney nationalism and exasperating jingoism Kesari puts its money where its mouth is. The actors playing the 21 incredibly courageous Sardarjis who took on the Afghani invasion, speak of the pride for their country with no effort to create an impression. These soldiers mean business. When pitched against officers (women, in this story) driving themselves over the edge to nap the perpetrators of the crime. Did the cops on the case really show this level of commitment? Does it matter? Heroism on a level where it heals society is unquestionable.

Recreating in vivid vicious colours the events before, during and after the life-changing ‘Nirbhaya’ gang rape in Delhi, this seven-part series spares us the brutality of watching the rape but protects from none of the trauma and horrific aftermath of a crime that shook the conscience of the nation.

As we hear our drama's hero

Vartika Chaturvedi say, this crime was different, the savagery was unprecedented. She got it right.

I will never forget the sequence where the ravaged girl is rolled into the hospital bloodied, brutalised beyond all human explanation, in pain beyond all endurance, and yet tells her father, "I will be fine".

We do that all the time. We keep saying things will be fine when we know they will only get worse.

Director Richie Mehta negotiates with powerful hands the many hurdles that a crime investigation so complex must face. This is a very professionally