'Dancing on the Grave' Review: This True-crime Series Is Mostly Engaging

'Dancing on the Grave' explores the story of Shakereh Khaleeli's death.

A still from Dancing on the Grave.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

(Trigger warning: Since it's a true-crime series, this review contains mentions of the details of the crime)

Director Patrick Graham brings another offering to the true crime genre with Dancing On the Grave. Indian content is displaying a sure shift towards stories of true crime and each new show or film opens itself to discussion about the lens that the makers place upon their subjects. 

A still from Dancing on the Grave.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

Dancing on the Grave follows the story of the ‘Richmond Road case’ in Bengaluru from the early 1990s. Shakereh Khaleeli was found dead in her own courtyard. However, evidence then pointed to a particularly gruesome detail – she was buried alive.

Shakereh was married to a renowned diplomat and they were parents to four girls. She later separated from her husband and married Swami Shradhananda (Murali Manohar Mishra). This decision estranged her from her family seemingly because of the conception that she had married ‘below her status’. The first two episodes focus on her family, including her second daughter, and their version of events. 

All of them are firm in their belief of Shradhananda being the perpetrator of the crime. Does their prejudice against him affect their views? Maybe, maybe not.

A still from Dancing on the Grave.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

It is not explored and is left for the viewer to decode. In the next episodes, the docuseries delves into the brutal reality of police violence under judicial custody. The viewers are finally introduced to Shradhananda who claims to be innocent and also alleges torture under custody. 

There are some questions that are left unanswered and some spools left unravelled which does take away from the engaging quality required. The show doesn’t delve much into the investigation but does piece together Shakereh’s daughter Sabbah Khaleeli’s story through her court testimonies and interviews with India Today.

We don’t find out much about the circumstances of Shakereh’s second marriage. Even the evidence found in the box she was buried in and the questionable tales surrounding the said box aren’t looked upon enough.

And there was time, if the show moved away from recreating the incident over and over again. 

However, Dancing on the Grave is engaging for the most part, for people who knew about the case and even for those who didn’t. The editing by Jahaan Noble and Kartik Bansal is crisp and some of the juxtaposition used in the show is incredibly, albeit hauntingly, effective. 

The background score adds to the show's haunting quality, keeping the audience hooked to the screen by immersing the viewer in the story that is being told.

A still from Dancing on the Grave.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

One of the show’s most glaring flaws is its insistence on dramatisation that almost borders on voyeurism, something true crime content is infamous for. 

This need for dramatisation threatens to disengage the viewer because it seems like the show doesn’t trust the viewer to feel empathy, especially for such a high-profile case whose details are out there for anyone to read. After all, Shakereh was the granddaughter of Mirza Ismail, Dewan of the erstwhile Mysore state.

For instance, the show gets its title from news reports from the time that claimed that Shradhananda held parties in the same courtyard where Shakereh’s remains were found. 

A still from Dancing on the Grave.

(Photo Courtesy: YouTube)

Additionally, her remains were only found in 1994, three years after her family noticed she was missing in 1991. Do the makers bring these questions up before Shradhananda? No. Dancing on the Grave has enough with respect to source material and access and each episode banks on the viewer’s curiosity to get them to click ‘next episode’. 

And the way the show is structured allows for the makers to take that leap of faith.