C.I.D.
1998
Original language: Hindi
- action & adventure
- crime
- drama
- mystery
The story
A team of dedicated men and women in the Crime Investigation Department will risk everything to solve Mumbai's toughest, most complicated crimes.
What it’s like
Hard-edged procedural staging in flat studio light: bare police bullpens, dim corridors lit by tube fluorescents, and the grimy, overcrowded streets of Mumbai shot in the harsh daytime glare of a late-nineties Indian broadcast, with a bright, slightly theatrical colour palette and a lot of close, urgent handheld framing during raids and interrogations. The score leans on dramatic stings and a driving synth-and-percussion pulse that spikes whenever a new body turns up, and the dialogue is loud, fast and declamatory. The vibe is brisk, earnest and pulpy, closer to an episodic cop show than a slow-burn thriller, with each case wrapping within a handful of episodes and the squad's camaraderie carrying the mood from one to the next. Violence is a regular part of the format: shootings, beatings and murder scenes appear often, usually staged with stagey restraint rather than gore, but the threat of physical danger is constant. Best suited to viewers who want a no-nonsense, old-school police procedural to watch in lengthy stretches, and to fans of 1990s Indian crime television who enjoy its bold, melodramatic energy.
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