New Delhi, 5 December (IANS). Audience response matters more to Indo-Canadian filmmaker Richie Mehta than recognition from the International Emmy Award for his web series Delhi Crime. He says that the matter of pride was that what he wanted to tell through the story was appreciated and understood by the people.

Last month, his web series Delhi Crime won the Best Drama Series award at the 48th International Emmy Awards. The show became the first Indian show to win an international Emmy.

After the victory, overwhelmed Mehta told IANS, “This is the culmination of years of work for me and hundreds of people.”

The web series shows the story of the infamous gang rape of December 2012 in Delhi which shook the world. This case made headlines around the world and it also had an impact on the image of the country, due to which Mehta was quite upset.

He went on to say, it is also a kind of gratitude that you pick a subject that is really quite dark and you try to deal with it, and while presenting it it becomes something that actually The expectant is more positive. Many people around the world started defining India on the basis of such crimes and this made me feel very uncomfortable.

The filmmaker further said, because they were forgetting that there are people all over the country, especially women who are trying to deal with every such terrible crime. You have to see both sides. So, for me, it was a kind of gratitude that resonates globally.

Soon after winning the award, a section of users with congratulatory messages on social media slammed the filmmaker for glorifying the crime and questioned how a horrific event could become a subject of show and pride.

When asked about his reaction to such views, Mehta said, I think either he did not see it, or perhaps he missed the point.

He said, the first episode is very valuable, every second counts, because you can lose the audience, especially in the first half an hour the audience can stop after watching it and say it’s not for me. In the first episode of Delhi Crime, I have used half an hour to show the backstory of these policemen. It is very valuable time and I have not shown offense.

He further said, for me, this show is not about crime. It is about those who question us and demand for us to solve it. This happens only because these people, especially women, are spending a lot of time in that darkness and they find the reason behind it. This is what I wanted to bring to the show. The show is also about this. If you think it’s about crime, why didn’t I show the crime?

This web series of Netflix is ​​a fictional story based on the horrors of the December 2012 Delhi bus gangrape case. It showed the complexities of the investigation team.

For Mehta, the response from the audience to the award matters.

He said, the good thing was that people were reacting to it. The awards are amazing, as they relate to something else, which is a critical response and an internationally received response.

The director shared, for me, the real thing of pride was that whatever we wanted to show, the audience tried to understand that. Critic reaction is a bonus. As a filmmaker and a communicator, you just want to know whether the message you are trying to convey is reaching people, whether they are receiving it or not. They are not forgetting about it even the next day. This is the real belief.

MNS / SGK