A tribute to CID

In 1997, BP Singh was already renowned as a director of fast paced investigative serials. He cut his teeth making the really cool Marathi detective serial, “100” (starring Shivaji Satham in what was just a prelude of the awesome things to come). Then he came to Sony in the late 90s and started a horror serial named Aahat. Slicker than the Ramsays but cheesier than the English ones, Aahat was genuinely scary at times and was a huge success. Based on this, the people at Sony gave Mr. Singh another timeslot to fill with his awesomeness. And then we got
*drumrolls*
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CID!!
It started as a slicker and Hindi version of 100. The serial was fast paced, the acting urgent and the villains sufficiently twisted. With time, the plots became bigger (I remember a plot of a virus about to destroy Mumbai which was really well executed), the characters got more human and started displaying some quirky traits. Some of the traits are:
• ACP Pradhyuman (Shivaji Satham) shows a tendency to always put his hand on hips while contemplating and spin an imaginary ball while brainstorming.
• Dr. Salunkhe (Narendra Gupta) shows a penchant for talking to dead bodies, getting into shouting matches with the CID officers and showed a new found love for funky haircut in the noughties.
• Inspector Fredericks (Dinesh Phadnis) became more goofy and the butt of jokes. He has recently begun to do shero shayari on CID, no doubt inspired by the internet.
• Senior Inspector Abhijeet (Aditya Shrivastava) has shown a penchant of being a proper badass. (Interesting trivia – Before paying the role of the cool inspetor, Aditya Shrivastava also played the role of a man about to commit murder with the brave souls trying to stop him. Maybe, on seeing the smartness of the CID, our would be murderer decided to show criminal life the bird and become one of CID. That would be an interesting story – arc.)
• Inspector Daya (Daya Shetty. And you thought I was forgetting about him) has shown a penchant for being built as an ox and a weakness for taking doors involuntarily out of their hinges. Google search “Daya, darwaaza tod do” and you would know the popularity that the door breaking activity has bought to the gentle giant and his team.
(Even more interesting trivia – Before the reign of Inspector Abhijeet, ACP Pradhyuman’s right hand man was one Inspector Virendra. This character was played by none other than Ashutosh Gowarikar. He left the show to direct a film you may know about. It was nominated for some Oscar. I still think of it as being directed by one of good ol’ ACP’s acolytes.)

As the show has run for so many years, while its quality may have declined and continuity gone for a toss because of so many personnel changes, it still ensures that you are entertained. The stories may have become too predictable but you go along with it because you love these quirky characters and their loud acting. There are loopholes galore (been 12 years and the ACP is still an ACP, Daya still an inspector and Abhijeet senior inspector. No promotions. No one loves their job so much to tolerate not getting promoted for this long.) but you ignore them. I believe that CID has become that type of show which is watched not for the story but to see how many times the ACP spins the ball, what new crazy behavioral trait the funky haired doc shows, how many doors Daya breaks and how many times Fredericks is teased. It has become an event.

Nothing shows the level of cult popularity that CID has achieved better than the internet. There are thousands of followers of such pages named as “Darwaza band hain sir. Daya, darwaaza tod do.” There are ACP Pradhyuman fan sites all over. CID is one of the first Indian show to have gone viral. And while shows like Star Trek have got fan fiction, CID has got CID shaayaris. In fact these shayaris are what got me hooked to CID again after work made me miss it from 2003 onwards. This is a good example for TV and film people. Viral marketing can work if done correctly even in India.

Enough of the sermon. I end this post with some of the CID shers I made up in my demented mind. Read and enjoy (please do not break a door with too much happiness or disgust):

Hindi mein kehte hain eeton ko bricks
Hindi mein kehte hain eeton ko bricks
Maar khaayega Daya ke haaton
Ek din Fredericks

Chali gayi hai light, band ho gaye Pankhe
Chali gayi hai light, band ho gaye Pankhe
Laash kya bataa rahi hai, Dr. Salunkhe

Bhaaron phool barsaao,
Mera Mehboob aaya hain,
Pata lagao Abhijeet,
Ye bakwaas sher kisne banaaya hai.

Agar ye case solve nahi hua
to barsaaenge humpe ACP sau kode,
Isliye O Daya,
kripaya aap ye darwaaza tode.

Chaudhvi ka Chaand ho,
Ya Aaftaab ho,
Daya, pata lagao,
Ye Aaftaab wo nahi jisne khoon kiya hai.

Mera jeevan kora kaagaz,
Kora hi reh gaya
Daya sir aaye nahi,
Isliye darwaaza khada hi reh gaya