The newest addition to the ‘crime-thriller’ genre on Netflix is Indian Predator- The Butcher of Delhi directed by Ayesha Sood. The plot of the series revolves around a string of cold-blooded murders by a serial killer who dismembered bodies of the victims and scattered it all across the national capital.
Delhi is known for its crime, what makes this case stand out? On being asked about the same Ayesha replies, “This was a collaboration between Vice and Netflix, it was an umbrella series. They had come up with a pool of stories and one of them was this. It wasn’t picked because it was gruesome or grotesque, it was picked because the nature of the crime was audacious and something so audacious, gruesome, or brutal was not really heard or talked about. The fact that it was unseen was one of the key reasons.”
A documentary is a reflection of a real-life incident. Talking about the process of finding verified information for the docu-series, Ayesha said, “We go through a long phase of research and development and during that phase, we do a lot of pre-interviews and the research team was very strong. They were extremely thorough and rigorous and would constantly transcribe interviews and put them up, we would go through them in detail. The legal team in both Vice and Netflix is also very strong, they guide you well. A lot also happens during the editing, when you go through it again and fish out what is important.”
Ayesha continued, “The people associated with the case were also very cooperative, especially the Delhi Police. There were many villagers who did not agree to talk in front of the camera because of the nature of the crime and the trauma, but would personally come and give me details.”
Real photographs clicked by the killer were also woven into the narrative of the documentary, Ayesha says “Those were a consequence of a bunch of conversations with the villagers from Ghosai, they are personal archival of those people. We were lucky to find them and have them woven into our story.”
Ayesha Sood is no stranger to the world of cinema, she was an assistant director for Hrithik Roshan-starrer Lakshya. Indian Predator- The Butcher of Delhi is a culmination of the past and present of a man which made him a cold-blooded serial killer and later the chase by the Delhi police which eventually put him behind bars.
The docu-series is available to stream on Netflix.
