Article-Whodunit? The computer chip-CID - Page 2

Originally posted by: Armu4eva

Murderers helpfully leave their jackets behind. CCTV cameras zoom in to a suspect's face. And if a pair of smashed spectacles is found on the crime scene, the ACP orders the impossible: "Abhijeet, sheher ke sab chasme ki dukaan talashlo. Pata karo ye chashma kisne kharida. (Abhijit, search all the opticians in town. And find out who bought this pair.") The CID team takes nary an hour to track the said shop down. Finally, there is Inspector Daya, who knocks all doors down, whether or not criminals are holed up inside. ("Daya, darwaza todo", is the ACP's war cry.)

The CID forensic lab, which is featured at least once in every episode, is a large room with a curious air of naivet. Pink, blue and green liquids give off gentle fumes from a row of test tubes. On the walls are lurid diagrams of the brain, massive x-ray plates and photographs of guns. Here, the avuncular chief of forensics, Dr RP Salunkhe is often seen hunched over dead bodies. He has some unusual tools: computers that operate without operating systems, and a software that can scan the scarred face of a corpse, and in a jiffy, generate the original features. "We use forensics, but in an entertaining way. We talk about 'time of death' and 'chemicals' without being specific," says Singh, and adds, "Salunkhe is a comic character, he talks to dead bodies. After years of doing this, he has gone soft in the head. It helps make the forensic lab a centre of entertainment."

Entertainment is what people who blanch from gruesome crime stories of real life are looking for when they watch crime fiction. Crime writers take the messy reality of a murder and create it into a complex ethical fable of order, right and wrong. In shows like Adalat and CID, the entertainment comes from outrageous twists of plot, ketchup-red blood and the comic swagger of cardboard murderers. Almost a show meant for children? Not too wrong there. "CID is a family crime show. We have a huge number of children fans. So we are careful about what we show. We don't show children being kidnapped. You will not find murder on the screen. Or violence against women, or inappropriate behavior, not even holding hands," says Singh. Agrees Adalat's Sayyed, "We wouldn't ever do a fictional take on the Aarushi murder case, for instance. It's too gruesome."