Exclusive! Delhi Crime 2 director Tanuj Chopra: The darkness in the show matches my core

It is safe to say that Indian-American director Tanuj Chopra's body of work can be labelled as 'festival-circuit sweethearts', but, with Delhi Crime Seasons 1 & 2, this Columbia University alumnus has burst onto mainstream TV and how! The stories he tells, however, come mostly from within and are slightly inclined towards social discussions, he tells us. 

In an exclusive to-be released video chat with OTTplay, Chopra discusses not wanting to hit the nail on its head every single time, marrying mmystery with class discrimination, and explains why the overall darkness of the show resonates with him 'somehow'. 

Excerpts from our chat with the director: 

After the success of Delhi Crime Season 1, the audience expects a lot from its second season and rightly so. What new elements have you introduced to make the story stand out from what fans of the crime-drama genre have already seen?

In some ways, we do not want to change the formula. We wanted to keep the framework of the first season alive and grow it even bigger. Techincally, I can say that we moved to a bigger camera (laughs!) But, more than that, season one depended on a story that moved at a certain pace and style. This season, its more of a chase and more of a race to finish. That's kind of fun, too, as people engage in that kind of content. 

You know, even though a show is brilliant, after a season or two, it loses its sheen because the freshness of its content is gone. So what have you done to retain the element of intrigue in season two?

I think something in your sensibility has to match the show. I mean something in your core (as a person), and I think the way Delhi Crime Season 2 is shot; the darkness in the show matches me somehow. I cannot explain it beyond that. I just intuitively know how to navigate this sediment. And you have to have hunger for it, you have to be hungry and should have the hunger to tell the story. And, at the moment, I feel very hungry to live in this world (smiles!)... If I don't, then that's when things start to loosen up. I think it's important to keep that edge.  

In this season, too, you talk about class distinction. How did you marry the two: murder mystery with class-based differentiation?

The social commetary is the IP of the show, it is the hallmark of the show. We have a producing team and even the team at Netflix, they are pushing us to bring out themese of this nature. Otherwise, it's just an action show or a cop show. Delhi Crime does not have personal stories (of the cops). It is more about what is happening around, socially. Personally, I try to approach it as organically as possible and I don't want to hit the nail on the head sometimes. And at times, themes emerge between performances and all of it comes together with the music, in the edit. So it's about the sensitive handling of the event.