Mystery and Me

Growing up, parents always felt there was a derth of good clean family drama on tv and this was true, as I remember Tara, Swabhimaan and Shanti were the pioneers of popular television shows in India in my generation and were aired on prime time on National Channel. They were hardly appropriate for kids. Alas, at that time the only kids shows were "Potli Baba Ki" and "The Jungle Book". Once cable television kicked in, I upgraded slowly to Saanp Seedi (the Mohan Kapoor show) and then to Crystal Maze - I used to love that show. It was because of Crystal Maze that I picked up interest in puzzle solving, which in turn has made me into this crime thriller fanatic that I'm today.

My tryst with mystery started with Byomkesh Bakshi - the Rajat Kapoor starrer tv show.

As a kid, I used to love watching this show. This was considered a clean family drama by my family. So, every wednesday dinner was spent in front of the television watching the adventures of the genuis Bengali Investigator. I would love to own all the seasons on DVD if possible, as I understand there was more than one season. I did find some of the episodes I hadn't seen on youtube, but "Yeh Dil Maange More."

After this came - Commander and Tehkikaat on DD Metro - the satellite channel for DD National. Of this Tehkikaat was more of my favourite.

The show featured Vijay Anand as the detective Sam and Saurbah Shukla as his trusted side kick Gopi. "Hum tehkikaat karne aaye hain" - from the opening credits is still fresh in my mind. This show also had a funny bone. Comedy is Saurabh Shukla's forte, so he played it with a lot of ease. Compared to Byomkesh Bakshi, this show was slightly on the adult side of the TV Show audience spectrum. Since, we didn't grow up on Nicklodean, we don't know the PG, PG-13 and PG-15 concepts. And good we don't.

Then came Raja Aur Rancho and some other shows which I didn't like very much. Like a drop of water in a desert, came CID.

ACP Pradyuman and his team kept me on the edge of my seat for a very long time. I have to admit that I have this really long ever lasting still continuing crush on Inspector Daya. The character of Dr. Salunkhe, the genius forensic doctor, is very interesting. Made me wonder, how you can tell so much about a dead person by carefully inspecting the body and carrying out some chemical tests on the body. I do understand that the real life of a Forensic doctor isn't as glamourous. If this extra glamourisation, helps highlight a potential employment oppourtunity, why not do this extra drama. "Give her an inch and she'll ask for the whole continent" was when I would watch CID. This hunger for more murder mysteries was satiated by CSI (all three) - CSI, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY.

Grissom and his crime lab team-mates, did teach me a thing or two about forensic investigation. I owe my higtened observation skills to them. And this skill wouldn't have been sharpened had I not chanced upon CSI while watching AXN. The show might have been popular in US, but we caught onto to it pretty late. Once I saw one episode, there was no looking back. In many ways, it reminded me of CID and I would often find myself comparing the two shows and like any Asian, I would prefer CSI over CID. Not because of fair skin, blonde hair and accent, but because of better presentation. Soon, I was to discover a little more glam version of CSI - CSI: Miami.

What happens when you up the glam quotient of CSI, you get CSI: Miami. Better looking actors, more suave and slick with oddles of attitude like the Pierce Bronsnan bond (just the way I like it). In fact, Prince Charming also liked CSI:Miami when he saw it the other day :) :). Smaller team, no infighting and politics of promotions and demotions, good, clean, mystery solving. Though, later I did realise that the whole in-office romance can never be ruled out. Nevertheless, less conflicts between characters makes it a better watch for me. Horatio Cane if my fav in the team. The character sketching is interesting for me. Caring, conflicted yet saving the day everyday. So, what happens when you think that maybe you aren't able to get enough viewers on east coast. You give them CSI with a flavour of the east side :) - CSI:NY.

When you get a chance of getting a free guided

tour of New York, shouldn't really say no and I didn't too. With great reluctance, I started watching CSI:NY, hoping that I wasn't heading towards an overdose of CSI. I wasn't. Took me a while to warm up to the show, but I was able to identify with characters, situations, references and places easily, as I had walked those very NY streets when I was studying at Philadelphia. This is when I also understood, the reasoning behind CID and CID: Special Bureau. Though I didn't like Special Bureau, but at least I was able to understand the rationale that might have driven it - potential business oppourtunity. Unlike, in the case of CSI, that franchise of CID didn't last too long. Anyways, lets talk about my new addiction - The Genius "Monk" who solves crimes for San Francisco Police Dept.

Monk, my latest favourite murder mystery. Cleanest, least side-effects but impactful. Reminds me of Byomkesh Bakshi. The difference is that Byomkesh Bakshi didn't have phobias. Monk, as most of you know, is the story about a brilliant ex San Francisco Police Dept (SFPD) detective working as an external consultant for SFPD. I discovered Monk in 2004, the year I landed on US soil to pursue my bachelors and have always tried to catch all episodes of the show. After Byomkesh Bakshi, Monk is my most favourite show ever.

I haven't mentioned some of my other discoveries - Special Squad, Numbers, Bones, JAG, Casa Picola, Law and Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Murder She Wrote.

My list ends with Monk and does have exclusions, which are listed above. The reason for the exclusion is simple - don't like them much. The reasons for the dislike are only few - too much glam, sub plots running helter skelter within the main plot and weak acting by actors. Now, I'm sure some of you disagree with all that I've written. Looking forward to your observations and comments.