For journalist-actor Rangaraj Pandey, it's work away from work as he takes up the hosting duties of the Crime Patrol show on the newly launched Sony Vizha. The programme was a hit in the Hindi-speaking regions on Sony Entertainment Television. "I was, I am and I will be with television. I was doing similar shows for the news channel, Thanthi TV. I will describe Crime Patrol as an infotainment show that will carry the regional flavour," he says.

Rangaraj expresses that he is aware of the kind of reach the show has gotten in North India and is hopeful that it will replicate the success in Tamil Nadu as well. "I heard Crime Patrol was streamed in non-primetime too to generate viewership. Then imagine the popularity of the show," he says, adding that though there is a proven success format for the show, the network was open enough to take suggestions from him. "The only suggestion I gave the channel was to tweak the show a bit to suit the Tamil sensibilities. The initial plan was to simply make me host with the already available content in the Hindi version. But I told them that a rural Tamilian may not be interested in a crime in Jaisalmer. So they readily agreed to focus on Tamil Nadu-centric crime stories."

Making his observations on reality shows in general, Rangaraj finds Crime Patrol as an IP where he can also put to use his journalistic responsibility. "This is nothing against the dance or singing shows. They all need space to entertain people. As I said before, Crime Patrol will make people aware of the kind of horrific crimes around them, learn from them, and ensure they keep themselves and their loved ones from harm's way." He also takes note of how crimes can be portrayed in insensitive ways and guarantees that this show will be different. "The real incidents that will get re-created will merely dramatise it and will not traumatise people. That is something we are all very clear about; there is no figment of fictionalisation. Every episode is derived from unbelievably real incidents. More importantly, we have packaged the show in a way that people learn and make themselves aware of things and not instill fear in them."

Having been a part of all three forms of journalism -- print, broadcast and digital -- Rangaraj strongly believes that the visual medium definitely has a bigger reach in comparison to text. "People may read about a crime incident in a daily, but they tend to move on from it easily. Whereas, I feel that visuals stay with you for a longer time. You can gain a deeper understanding of the machinations of a lawbreaker and get to the bottom of a crime," he remarks, while also commenting on Sony Network's confident gamble to get into the Tamil television space when it is increasingly getting occupied by the digital platform boom. "The ever-shrinking space of television is a global phenomenon, and I don't feel it is peculiar to a particular geographical location. It is one thing to expand television operations, and it is an entirely different thing to conduct the expansion in Tamil Nadu. I hear that Sony has a strong team that has conducted meticulous research before taking this step. I think their Sony Vizha will be successful and Crime Patrol will have a role to play in it."

Although the show and the format may be new, Rangaraj Pandey is no stranger to crimes and criminals. Boasting almost three decades in journalism, he says he can recall scores of chilling crime stories without thinking much. However, he says he cannot forget his first brush with crime reporting with a honeymoon murder case, when such crime was largely unheard of. "Now you may hear a lot of stories about honeymoon murders. But back when I was a cub reporter in Theni, this was completely unheard of. There was this horrific honeymoon murder I reported in the district. It could be termed a first-of-its-kind crime. The modus operandi and the gravity of the crime were shocking," he recalls. Drawing from decades of his experience as a journalist, he pinpoints envy and jealousy as a root cause of all kinds of crimes. "Be it a crime of passion, or for wealth or land, or Mann, Penn, Ponn as we say in Tamil, it stems from envy and an unjustifiable greed to attain the unattainable. Wanting something and working for it is fine, but the greed to usurp and find shortcuts is where a crime is born."

In an interesting coincidence, Rangaraj Pandey, who is not currently part of any film, has films in the pipeline that suit his new hosting duty. "I have completed three films so far awaiting release: Sambavam, Raw and Bullet. But I have not committed to any projects so far," he signs off.