Release Date : July 20, 2022

123telugu.com Rating : 2.5/5

Starring: Altaf Hussain, Bunny Adhikari, Sanjay Bansal, Manjit Singh, Ankit Sharma, Pankaj Sharma, Shivam, Joginder Sharma, Meenu, Pradeep

Director: Ayesha Sood

Producers: Vice Studios India

Music Director: Viraaj Saxena, Stuart Dacosta, Rohan Rajadhyaksha, Rohan Ramanna, Jehinger

Cinematography : Linesh Desai

Editor: Anuapama Chabukswar

Netflix has come up with a documentary series that explores a serial killer named Chandrakant Jha who shook the country’s capital with a series of 7 murders. Let’s see how it is.

Story

Chandrakant Jha who hails from Bihar moves to Delhi to make a living. He starts working in a vegetable mandi where he is tortured by the police for bribes. Also, he will be accused falsely of crimes he didn’t commit. Irritated toward the police department and the entire system he goes on a killing spree. He leaves the body parts scattered across different places in Delhi thereby challenging the Police to catch him. The police find it difficult to arrest him since there are no details either about the victims or the perpetrator. The three-episode documentary series throws light on the police investigation, the point of view of the killer, and the attitude of society that made people like Chandrakant become serial killers.

Plus Points

The third episode especially talks about the reason for people turning into serial killers and committing crimes. It stresses the way people behave in society. The show thus tried to offer a moral solution to this kind of issue.

Certain aspects of the show give us chills. Makers’ attempts to capture real incidents that are actually more horrifying are appreciable. The psychological reason of the killer for committing these crimes is well depicted. The series tried to explore the perpetrator’s mind, making us understand his point of view clearly.

The documentary also tries to highlight how the lower class of society gets neglected in every aspect including the judicial system.

Minus Points

The series of interviews involving the police officers and the journalists don’t have much impact here in this show and it consumes most of the screen time. Many new ways have been coming of late to explain a story, but relying much on these interviews doesn’t work beyond a point.

Few parts of the show seem repetitive and redundant. It felt like the scenes were put back and forth to convey the same point. The scenes were more dramatized which shouldn’t be the case in documentaries. The narrative seems to be confusing.

The case was a sensation and there was a lot of scope to present it even better. But the director was not able to fully utilize what was available on hand. The editing team could have done an even better job to make it more engaging and thrilling.

Technical Aspects

The background score is too good and intense making it fit the narrative. As the series is based on a gruesome series of incidents the sound design used in the show is simply brilliant.

The cinematography is fine. The editing could have been crisper. Coming to the director Ayesha Sood, she was not able to do complete justice to the potent material that was present. She could have taken more care in telling the story in a compelling way. Most of the time was wasted repeating the same points.

Verdict

On the whole, Indian Predator: The Butcher of India is a shallow exploration of the actual incident. There is a lot of scope present in the subject matter but the director failed to utilize it properly in making an impact. If you are expecting a crime documentary like that of House of Secrets: The Burari Deaths you will be surely disappointed.

123telugu.com Rating: 2.5/5

Reviewed by 123telugu Team