This year, get ready to sample real edge-of-the-seat action as directors are queuing up with real crime tales that have intrigued us for a long time. Coming soon: Main Aur Charles, loosely based on Charles Sobhraj's 1987's jailbreak, Sher Singh Rana, a biopic on Phoolan Devi’s killer, and Rahasya, a film on the Arushi Talwar double murder case. Sangeeta Yadav brings you the details
Tired of the same old ghisa pita romance, action and comedy on the big screenIJ Filmmakers seem to have found a way to the audiences’ heart this summer. With real-life crime inspired thrillers, they are hoping to make things interesting.
After the success of movies inspired from or based on real life crime like Special 26, No One Killed Jessical, Paan Singh Tomar, Shootout At Wadala, Ankur Arora Murder Case, and Shahid, the industry is in an experimental mode delving into the murky world of crime and bringing real stories to the fore.
“Realtime crime in Bollywood is a trend, what with movies like Manjunath, Main Aur Charles, Sher Singh Rana and Dirty Politics poised to become the next best thing in the industry. Some are biopics, some faction and others thinly veiled factuality. But every film has a different flavour,” director Sandeep Varma whose film Manjunath is making waves at the theatre, says.
“Manjunath is a biopic of an unsung hero whose death united a lot of people to fight for justice. Almost 95 per cent of the film is based on real anecdotes and happenings. The rest was fictionalised to tell a story. When you are dealing with a real-life subject there is bound to be contradiction. The director can choose to swing the story whichever way he likes. I had many options too. But I chose to tell the story about the sacrifice of one man over dwelling with the general crime rampant in that area. Manjunath deserved an audience and I gave that much to him,” Varma says.
Filmmakers have long tried to cash in on true stories by projecting the real life of criminals and victims on the big screen and 2014 is not going to be any different. Another biopic titled Sher Singh Rana — The End of Bandit Queen is based on the life of Sher Singh Rana aka Pankaj who was responsible for the murder of dacoit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi in 2001.
Rana, currently serving his sentence in Tihar Jail, is also the Roorkee ‘activist’ behind bringing back Prithivi Raj Chauhan’s remains from Afghanistan. Sher Singh Rana, the movie directed by Muncher Wadia, is under production and actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been roped in to play the lead protagonist. According to the buzz, Sanjeev Yadav, DCP Special Cell, Delhi Police whose stories and inputs took the shape of films like Highway and Special 26 is also the man behind Sher Singh Rana.
Filmmakers and producers have always given credit to police officers who willingly share top stories which make for interesting film subjects. For instance, Mangesh Kashyap, additional DCP, economic offences wing is the man who revealed the true bookie story that was later picked up and made into Jannat 2. Neeraj Kumar, former commissioner of police, Delhi was the main source behind Apaharan and Ganjalal which were superhits.
The next crime thriller — Main Aur Charles, a fictionalised film around the real incident of Charles Shobraj’s escape from the Tihar Jail in 1987 has been sourced by none other than Amod Kanth, former DCP.
“I’m excited about playing Charles in director Prawaal Raman’s Main Aur Charles, based on a real life crime mystery. I would not call it a biopic. It’s loosely based on this incident which we have tried to portray in an interesting way. The film aims at capturing the good and bad side of a relationship,” Randeep Hooda tells you, adding that actor Adil Hussain will be essaying ex top cop Amod Kanth’s role while Richa Chadha will play Charles’ love interest in the film. The film is slated to release by the end of this year.
The other real life crime movies that are doing the round include Dirty Politics, based on the well documented Bhanwari Devi murder case, and will be brought alive on screen by Mallika Sherawat, and Manish Gupta’s Rahasya which is based on the Aarushi Talwar twin murder case.
“Although some takes on real-life crime have bombed at the box office, we are seeing this as an upcoming trend. Thrillers had taken a backseat in the industry for some time. I am happy to see directors coming up with fresh ideas to woo their audiences. We could convert more of such stories if we had the full co-operation of the Crime Branch and senior police officers. Wish they could feed us with interesting happenings on a daily basis,” ace director Kunal Kohli says.