ONCE UPON A CRIME

As brutal crimes and lurid reporting dominate the headlines, ‘true crime’ podcasts are the latest medium to feed our appetite for the dark side

- Farah Yameen

Simulating primal fears, ‘exposure therapy’, an education in survival—all sorts of theories have been proffered for why true crime as a genre will never cease to have a loyal following. To the ’90s generation that grew up on India’s Most Wanted and Crime Patrol, and obsessively memed Wild Wild Country, this isn’t news. In the ’80s too, despite the extreme popularity of Karamchand Jasoos on Doordarshan, true crime had already amassed a following through Police File Se. Unlike cartoons and hatted detectives, we have never had to import ideas of gruesome villainy for risqué story-telling. The late lamented Crime and Detective magazine capitalised on this abundance of crime and an appetite for the lurid during its run. While Anup Soni of Crime Patrol keeps exhorting every one of us potential victims to be “Satark, savdhan and taiyyar (Alert, attention and ready)”, Indian true crime podcasts are the latest turn in the desperate search for content for a stir-crazy, pandemic-stricken country.

On the lookout for murder most evil, these podcasts are unearthing stories from everywhere. The Desi Perspective takes up famous cases from India and the world, punctuated by many disbelieving exclamations at the vileness of mankind, and banter between the two friends who host it. Khooni: The Crimes of India takes to straightforward but effective narration and is currently one of the most popular true crime podcasts on Spotify.