Some More TV Detectives

I want to finish up the "Desi Detectives" series with a few TV detectives I didn't cover last time, starting with a serial I didn't know existed.

The Name: Special Squad
The Men (and Women): Aryan Khanna, Shaina Kaur, Dipika Ghosh, Ajay, Neha, Boxer, Shotgun, Papaji

Background: Special Squad (not to be confused with their Australian mates) was set up by Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, as a "special" team. Supposed to be a crack team of homicide investigators and forensic experts, they are pitted against  "perfect criminals". The team is led by Aryan Khanna (who is pushing himself because he could not solve the case of his wife and daughter's murder) and later by Dipika Ghosh (who is put in the team to control the unorthodox ways of Aryan).

The cases are a combination of ones where the team has to find the criminal and the ones where they have to catch the criminal. While the latter often tend to be more police-procedural drama, the former are interesting, if not brilliant. Perhaps the major point I can talk about is that the cases do not seem to be overtly "inspired".

Then again, the series was a 2005 original, and I am not really conversant with crime dramas of that period. Also, although the story of a cop troubled/fueled by personal trouble is common in books, it was rare in the serials I have seen in that time period (for a particularly good serial in this genre, refer "Life").

As far as the investigative cases go, they are fairly guessable. But when we see the unit reconstructing the crime scene while investigating, the "re-enactment" shows the real criminals. I want to find out who made this decision, as this definitely takes away a lot from the suspense. I agree that a group of people discussing how the crime happened is less interesting than actual visual (picture being thousand words and video being many pictures), but then seeing the face of the actual criminal about halfway through the episode is not good either.

I think if the serial had gone beyond one season, this would have been a good one. Of course, I don't think this would have given any serious competition to CID. This is much more emotional drama, not to mention that CID has got quite a few years behind them to establish the characters. But then again, this slight emphasis on emotion does make them less prone to the unintentionally-funny gaffes CID often makes.

That said, I did not know that the time of death could be pinpointed to the minute by forensic examiners. Neither did I know that bullet cases are recovered from victim's body, and not the bullet.


Coming next time: This detective lives with a doctor. They tell us that he is a master of disguises. Sounds familiar? Well, you will be surprised.