Summary
A brutal and fascinating watch, but it may only be for true crime docuseries aficionados because of the cruelty on display here.
Netflix true crime series Indian Predator: The Butcher of Delhi was released on the streaming service on July 20, 2022.
For almost a decade that spanned two different centuries, The Butcher of Delhi terrorized the heart of India. He would tie up his victim’s legs and arms. He then would behead and disembowel them. The Butcher would chop and wrap them in newspapers fresh off the press. All before dropping them off in western parts of the sprawling city. Indian Predator: The Butcher of Delhi chronicles the killings of a man name Chandrakant Jha as he dismembered eight victims in nine years. What’s the big deal? Since there are numerous psychopath true crime docuseries made over the past decade? What makes this case different, if that wasn’t enough, is that the others are that he used abuse by the police to go on a killing spree.
The Butcher even taunts them. How? By dropping them off and leaving them in front of police stations with notes attached. You will first ask yourself, how could there not be more? Well, when caught, the community that was once his home said it was north of forty. And that is where director Ayesha Sood excels by talking to everyone involved. From the detectives assigned to the case, associates of Jha, behavioral analysts, and even victims who escaped and survived. Like most stories of serial killers, there was a lull where perhaps the Butcher managed to control his behaviors. These types have such impulse control problems they cannot help themselves. So, he dropped off another victim in 2007, and the police were back on his radar.
Sood delicately handled filming the recounts of the investigation with care as Delhi’s finest investigators used common sense techniques (also called circumstantial evidence) but narrowed the field by recognizing India’s vast number of languages and dialects. There are 22 languages spoken in Delhi alone and over 19,500 dialects in the country, so this could not have been easy. Where this true crime docuseries falters a bit is the truly gruesome reenactments. They seem to be developed and even slowed to fill up time with shock value.
Yet, you cannot argue the gripping nature of the story. What makes Indian Predator: The Butcher of Delhi compelling is what the best true crime docuseries do — take you inside the head of the killer. The filmmakers analyze each letter so you can hear each callous and morally depraved word. We also listen to horrifying recounts of a man surviving a disemboweling. Another tells the story of how the Butcher taunts his victims. One potential escaped certain death by playing a game with Jha that spared his life. The killer even captured this with a polaroid picture.
If you watch enough true crime stories, officers and behavioral experts map out the reasons for the murderous actions. The childhood abuse and trauma Jha suffered are documented and truly awful. This almost certainly led to his psychopathic behavior. This is highlighted by accounts of his defiance of authority figures. When caught, he admitted to everything as long as the police would not beat him. This points to a deep-seated fear that manifested into criminal behavior.
While Netflix here has created another docuseries that could have been wrapped up in one 90-minute documentary, Sood keeps the viewer engaged enough to binge all three episodes. The result is that Indian Predator: The Butcher of Delhi is a brutal and fascinating watch. Though, this may only be for fans of true crime docuseries aficionados because of the cruelty on display.
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