The Desi Crime Podcast: Unveiling South Asia’s Dark Secrets with Aishwarya and Aryaan

Hosted by Aishwarya Singh and Aryaan Misra, The Desi Crime Podcast delves into probably the most gripping true crime tales from South Asia and its diaspora. Aishwarya, initially from India, has traveled extensively and settled within the USA in 2019. Her ardour for true crime and love for storytelling discovered an ideal outlet on this podcast. Aryaan, embodying a mix of gym-bro enthusiasm and poetic sensitivity, co-hosts the present, pushed by a shared curiosity in crime and narrative.

The podcast was born out of Aishwarya and Aryaan’s realization of a void within the true crime style inside the South Asian context. Throughout their school days in Michigan, they famous the dearth of such content material and determined to fill the hole, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic introduced them again to India with ample time to pursue this ardour.

With a meticulous analysis course of, the hosts be certain that every episode is well-documented, empathetic, and interesting. They intention to boost consciousness about crime points whereas highlighting the cultural context of every story. The podcast’s future seems to be brilliant with plans to develop into video content material and potential collaborations with OTT platforms for extra intensive storytelling initiatives.

Query 1: What impressed you to launch The Desi Crime Podcasts?

Reply 1: What impressed the launch of the Desi Crime Podcast was the approaching collectively of many coincidental components. One among them was that I, Aishwarya, have at all times been an enormous true crime fanatic. I witnessed firsthand the increase within the West of true crime podcasts, podcasts usually, and investigative podcasts. From that increase, I discovered content material that I personally consumed each day. So, when Aaryan and I have been simply two broke school college students in the midst of nowhere in Michigan, USA, I’d continually pester Aaryan to take heed to a few of my favourite podcasts. “Why don’t you take heed to any podcasts from India?” There was a split-second silence between the 2 of us. We spent the remainder of the night time doing our personal analysis and realized that there have been none within the style of true crime popping out of India or South Asia at giant. That’s the place we recognized this void out there for a rustic that has traditionally liked true crime, whether or not or not it’s Crime Patrol, Saavdhan India. We’ve at all times liked the style, but within the podcasting area, there was nothing providing that content material to folks. Shortly after that, COVID hit, school shut down, and we went again to India with nothing to do. That’s after we began the Desi Crime Podcast. It was the right coming collectively of my ardour for true crime, Indian tales that wanted to be informed, and Aaryan and my collective ardour for storytelling and debating, having been debaters and orators again in highschool.

Query 2: Might you please present some perception into your analysis course of for every episode? How do you select the tales to cowl?

Reply: It’s a protracted course of and maybe an important a part of creating and placing an episode on the market as a result of that’s actually the half the place we will really do justice to the sufferer’s story is within the analysis. We’re very explicit in regards to the type of sources we use, clearly first in search of main sources, then for secondary ones. These may very well be within the type of a ebook written by somebody related to the case, firsthand interviews on-line, after all. It may very well be within the type of analysis performed by professors associated to a case. For instance, the Nepalese Royal Household Bloodbath had a really influential professor in London who had completed an enormous analysis paper on it, which was deeply useful. All of those sources are essential. Court docket paperwork, though rarer to search out in India and never as simply accessible, are essential after we do discover them. When that doesn’t work, we see if we will attain out to folks related to the case, whether or not or not it’s a police officer, a sufferer’s member of the family, or the sufferer themselves. We will see if we will discover their social media platforms, their e mail IDs, and attain out to them for the aim of our analysis. The analysis takes a very long time. It’s anyplace from a 5 to seven-day course of for any particular person case as a result of we attempt to do an intensive job with the information.

Sadly, in India, even information channels will differ when it comes to the information that they offer us and the narrative they weave. So it’s necessary to get in contact with these main sources and be capable to inform that story correctly. How we select to cowl sure tales over others, any particular person case wants to fulfill a sure variety of standards. One among them is that it must be South Asian in nature. That may very well be based mostly out of South Asia or the South Asian diaspora outdoors of South Asia settled within the West.

These instances must have a narrative to inform, which is an unlucky actuality that on the finish of the day, these tales have to be entertaining as a result of if you wish to do service to the sufferer’s story, the story wants to achieve a bigger viewers, and to achieve a bigger viewers, it must be participating sufficient. There must be a narrative to inform in any case that may be weaved into a really fascinating narrative for any particular person episode. Then we attempt to mess around with which South Asian nation we’re overlaying simply so we will have a wholesome mixture of the world that we’re attempting to signify. We attempt to guarantee that we cowl totally different sorts of crimes. So not simply sticking to the quintessential serial killer, however speaking about monetary crime, relationship app crime that’s an increasing number of widespread now, honor killing, crimes associated to ragging, and disappearances. We attempt to have a mixture of totally different genres of crime after we choose a narrative.

Query 3: Have you ever ever come throughout any surprising or notably tough features whereas researching or recording an episode? How did you navigate them?

Reply: An surprising or tough drawback that we’ve run into whereas researching an episode has at all times been the dearth of knowledge relating to instances. In India and South Asia at giant, not like within the West, we don’t have correct on-line databases that put collectively complete info on a case. We don’t have entry to public information correctly. It’s extremely onerous, just about unattainable for 97 p.c of the instances, I’d say, to search out the FIR report or a court docket doc of the ultimate verdict. It’s very, very onerous for instances, regardless that it might be a really distinguished case, if it’s just a bit bit previous, you’ll have a extremely onerous time discovering these main supply paperwork. That’s at all times an enormous ache as a result of with out these, you’re counting on journalistic fervor and rigor on the time of the crime going down. As we all know, journalistic rigor ebbs and flows based mostly on how a lot limelight against the law will get. So again within the Nineteen Seventies, a case might not have made waves the best way it then went on to after a film was made or no matter. Sources from the Nineteen Seventies, Nineteen Eighties, and Nineties are extremely onerous to achieve. If India is hard, nations like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal are additionally extremely onerous to search out correct documented databases with assets on-line to do correct analysis for these instances.

Query 4: How do you keep empathy and humanity for the perpetrators, regardless of the heinous nature of their crimes?

Reply: One of many byproducts of overlaying over 120 true crime instances over the past 4 years is that we’ve been pressured to dive deep into the mind of the legal. Whenever you dive deep into the mind of the legal, you notice they weren’t born criminals. Criminality is one thing they’ve acquired over time as human beings. These weren’t children that have been at all times destined to be criminals. There have been issues that occurred of their previous that made them who they’re now. You notice that evil shouldn’t be one thing that’s innate to humanity, however evil is one thing that’s cultured. Evil is one thing that’s developed because the particular person grows up. You’ll be able to empathize with them extra as a result of you possibly can then see that the legal was both topic to sexual assault, a horrible childhood, or poverty, none of which justifies the legal’s actions, however merely explains it. One of many issues that we at Desi Crime are very express about sustaining is that justification shouldn’t be the identical as clarification, and there’s a key distinction that generally folks miss. So, regardless of the heinous crimes that sure perpetrators commit, it’s our duty to inform these tales in as sincere a lightweight as we will with out attempting to villainize the villain greater than they have already got been.

Query 5: How do you hope The Desi Crime Podcasts will have an effect on your listeners’ consciousness of crime points and understanding of the cultural context?

Reply: The primary influence that we at Desi Crime are aware of is the influence on the sufferer and the sufferer’s household. Once we coated instances just like the Uphaar fireplace tragedy or the Yvonne Johnson case in Sri Lanka, members of the family of the victims reached out to us, thanking and appreciating the protection we did. It’s as a result of we be certain that we’re mainstreaming the narrative of the sufferer earlier than anyone else’s, earlier than the clicks, earlier than every other precedence. That’s the primary layer of influence that we’re aware of. The second is the attention that’s raised inside our listener group. Crimes within the Indian subcontinent and South Asia are so totally different from these within the West as a result of they’re undergirded by some type of social evil or social phenomena. My hope for Desi Crime is to deal with it as a method to unfold social messaging relating to these crimes and social evils with out lecturing the viewers. Now, I’ll provide you with a small instance. No person want to be lectured about honor killings and feminine violence. That lecture can be boring, and no person would tune into it. But when I choose against the law case of an honor killing, say Qandeel Baloch or the Kohistan case—instances that we’ve coated on our present earlier than—if I choose one story and thru that story, I inform the story of what honor killings are, what feminine violence in Pakistan seems to be like, what feminine violence in rural India seems to be like, then folks will tune in for the story and return with the social messaging. That’s how we hope to deal with Desi Crime.

Query 6: How do you see the way forward for The Desi Crime Podcasts? Are there any plans to develop the podcast or take it in new instructions?

Reply: The arrival of podcasting in India final yr noticed the rise of interview-style podcasts, you recognize, bros speaking about find out how to make your biceps larger and find out how to get extra productive, actually rummage by the web. That pressured us to pivot our technique from an audio-only podcast to an audio and video podcast. One of many priorities going ahead is to have video be a giant element of what we do. Our YouTube is a quickly rising medium as nicely, about to the touch 100K subscribers, and our movies are at 250K views.

That’s as a result of India, as a lot as I’d hate to simply accept it, is a video-first financial system. Not like the West, the place audio podcasts are multi-million greenback industries, in India, audio podcasting doesn’t minimize it. It’s good to have the video component.

One other enterprise we’re taking a look at is working with OTT platforms and growing these episodes that we’ve already coated into larger, extra bold OTT initiatives like characteristic movies and net sequence.In order that’s the route I see for Desi Studios and Desi Crime within the subsequent couple of years.