{"id":756,"date":"2016-05-02T07:25:26","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T07:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=756"},"modified":"2026-07-17T13:53:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T13:53:43","slug":"netflix-nithari-case-karma-killings-india-noida-aarushi-talwar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=756","title":{"rendered":"The Karma Killings: Indian True Crime\u2019s Watershed Moment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A<\/span>girl I know once said, \u201cI can\u2019t go out past 10 PM because that\u2019s when the family watches <\/p>Crime Patrol<\/em>.\u201d\n\nI felt a twinge of sympathy, not because she couldn\u2019t go out, but because she had to watch Crime Patrol<\/em> during family TV time. Their favourite series\u00a0is part of the ever-growing tribe of \u201ctrue crime shows\u201d that have captured the lurid appetites of Indian television audiences across the country. From urban housewives catching an afternoon rerun\u00a0to the great Indian joint family sitting down for quality time over blood and bones, sordid tales of kidnapping\u00a0and murder, and other gruesome horrors seem to titillate the country\u2019s imagination like nothing else.\n\nThe format of these shows is pretty straightforward: A sombre-faced host welcomes you to the episode and introduces the case in question. What follows is a dramatic re-enactment of the crime in question, which has a distinct Ram v\/s Raavan vibe to it.\u00a0The hapless victim and evil villain are shoved in our faces with not even the slightest attempt at nuance. By the end of such an episode, we loathe and fear the antagonist, in the same distant, disinterested way we loathe and fear, say Darth Vader or Gabbar Singh.\n\nIn reality, crime is the end product of a complex web of human emotions, circumstances and motivations. There are rarely black and white scenarios and it need not be that every person who commits a crime is a hardened, cold-blooded criminal. There is ample scope for grey, for nuanced depictions of the human beings involved, and the forces at play. This is what The Karma Killings<\/em>, the 84-minute documentary on the Nithari killings<\/a>, attempts to do.\n\nThe Nithari killings were perpetrated by a businessman named Moninder Singh Pandher and his house help Surinder Koli, and claimed the lives of 19 victims. Nearly all of them were children. It was a crime of such deep blackness, involving everything from rape, to dismemberment, to blood-thirst, that it is enormously difficult to even conceive of nuance or objectivity. But that\u2019s exactly where\u00a0The Karma Killings<\/em>\u00a0shines.\n

This docudrama resides far away from not just Crime Patrol<\/em> and Savdhaan India<\/em> tropes, but also true-crime-based movies that have been in vogue over the last few years.<\/blockquote>\nIn The Karma Killings<\/em>, we see the real Pandher, who comes across as a reserved, silent man, and not one to make any outward displays that could be considered suspicious. The policeman who arrested Koli admits on camera that the killer\u2019s nonchalance about his crimes disturbed him greatly, and the policeman was apprehensive about being around him. The Crime Patrol<\/em> <\/a>episodes that covered the same case are laughably contrived. On Crime Patrol<\/em>, Pandher is seen laughing sinisterly as the police question him and\u00a0 Surinder Koli is casually tortured by police.\n\nIn an era of Making a\u00a0Murderer<\/em> and The People v. O. J. Simpson<\/em>, where audiences have learnt to hear both sides of the story, have waited patiently to understand motivations and circumstances at play before delivering their verdicts, The Karma Killings<\/em> comes as India\u2019s moment in the genre of true crime docudramas, a genre started by the legendary Truman Capote in the\u00a0\u201970s.\n\nIt’s no surprise then, that Ram Devineni, the film\u2019s director, cites Capote as one of his strongest influences. \u201cI was obsessed with In Cold Blood,\u201d <\/em>he says, \u201cHow Capote spent years investigating the case and covering the Clutter murders from every angle, even befriending the two killers who had savagely murdered the entire family.\u201d\n\nIn The Karma Killings<\/em>, a comprehensive timeline is presented to the viewer. It begins with the disappearance of girls in Nithari, Noida, depicts the arrests and courtroom drama, and goes all the way up to the current state of the case (Pandher\u2019s appeal <\/a>of his death sentence is pending before the Allahabad High Court). We get to meet the cops who were involved, the CBI director at the time, forensic analysts, and families of the victims as well as those of the perpetrators. Even the two lawyers who argued for the defence and prosecution make an appearance.\u00a0 The Karma Killings<\/em>\u00a0is a far cry from pronouncements like \u201cNithari Ke Rakshas Kaatil!!\u201d, entering\u00a0a space of fact, enquiry and true investigation.\n\n\"The\n
\n

In The Karma Killings, we see the real Pandher, who comes across as a reserved, silent man, and not one to make any outward displays that could be considered suspicious.<\/p>\n

Courtesy: Ram Devineni\/Netflix<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\nThis docudrama differentiates itself from not just\u00a0Crime Patrol<\/em> and Savdhaan India<\/em> tropes, but also true-crime based-movies that have been in vogue\u00a0over the last few years. While less outrageous than the TV shows, movies like Talvar<\/em> and Rustom<\/em> take sides unabashedly. In Rustom<\/em>, the audience is led to feel vindicated when the protagonist\u2019s name is cleared by the courts, despite him murdering <\/a>his wife\u2019s lover, while in Talvar<\/em>, we\u2019re led to sympathise with the fact that the parents ended up accused of their daughter\u2019s death. No matter where your sympathies lie in the latter\u00a0case<\/a>, the truth remains\u00a0that\u00a0the real-life parents of Aarushi Talwar are the prime accused based on evidence gathered by the CBI. These one-sided movies, with their fast-moving plotlines, shining heroes, and reprehensible villains purport to bring controversial cases to light, but only end up obfuscating the discourse surrounding them.\n\nBy reducing the characters to caricatures, our approach to true crime in India perpetuates the belief that such incidents only occur in the realms of fantasy. The very real threat of a Savdhaan India<\/em> scenario happening to you or me gets lost in translation. This is why The Karma Killings<\/em> is such an important film. It launches the true crime genre in India with credibility and responsibility, keeping in mind that that at the centre of murders and investigation, is the essential fallibility of humanity.\n\nGo watch.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Karma Killings comes as India\u2019s moment in the genre of true crime docudramas, a genre started by the legendary Truman Capote in the \u201970s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":759,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[1336,1337,1338,19,1339,1340,1341,1342,1343,1344,1345,1346,1347],"class_list":["post-756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-aarushi-murder-case","tag-aarushi-talwar","tag-crime-patrol","tag-india","tag-karma-killings","tag-making-a-murderer","tag-netflix","tag-nithari-case","tag-noida","tag-rustom","tag-savdhaan-india","tag-talwar","tag-the-people-vs-oj-simpson"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Karma Killings: Indian True Crime\u2019s Watershed Moment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Karma Killings comes as India\u2019s moment in the genre of true 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