CID’s iconic trio reunites for new crime drama Paapanasham

For a generation of Indian television viewers, the sound of a door being kicked down was practically an anthem. Now, more than two decades after CID first put "Daya, darwaza tod do" into everyday vocabulary, the officers who built that legacy are stepping back in front of the camera together — but this time, they've left the badges behind.

CID stars return in new crime drama

The reunion news broke on September 22, when Dayanand Shetty — forever etched in public memory as the door-busting Inspector Daya — shared an Instagram video bringing the old gang back together. The clip wasn't just nostalgia bait but a full-cast comeback, reimagined from the ground up.

Shivaji Satam, who anchored the franchise for years as ACP Pradyuman, opened the announcement with unmistakable enthusiasm, revealing that the team has already begun shooting in Mangalore and Udupi. Aditya Srivastava, best known as the sharp-eyed Abhijeet, followed up with a key clarification: this is still a crime drama at heart, but the ensemble will appear in entirely new avatars — different names, different backstories, different badges to earn.

Dayanand, who's backing the project through his own production house, The Daya Shetty Productions, didn't hide how personal this one feels. As he put it, the show is "very close to our hearts, and a new beginning for all of us."

The cast list reads like a CID reunion in all but character name. Ansha Sayed — once Inspector Purvi — is on board and has already appealed to fans to extend the same devotion to the new project that they gave the original series. Joining her are Hrishikesh Pandey and Ajay Nagrath, who played Inspectors Sachin and Pankaj respectively, with Nagrath reporting that production is moving smoothly and the team has thrown themselves fully into the new material.

The reveal ended with the full cast unveiling the project's title together: Paapanasham: Where Crime Ends. Paapanasham is skipping television entirely, positioning itself instead for a streaming or web release, a sign of where even legacy TV talent is increasingly placing its bets.

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