India, May 15 -- In the Indian streaming space, where crime stories based on real incidents are a dime a dozen, Inspector Avinash stands out in one department. It uses real names, at least some of them. What has, until very recently, been avoided even in films, was something that Inspector Avinash attempted with its first season in 2023, using the real names of the protagonist (Avinash Mishra) and the antagonist, Shriprakash Shukla, the dreaded UP don.

Ahead of the release of the second season, writer-director Neeraj Pathak speaks to Hindustan Times about the show and the evolution of streaming in India.

Talking about the realism of Inspector Avinash, Neeraj says, "In UP, these stories were newspaper headlines. I wanted to make the audi...