Encounter saga

Mona

Encounters seem to be the hot topic of the season, with Vikas Dubey chase and killing unravelling like a racy film script. The Telangana encounter last year to Dubey gang being eliminated by UP police now, there is enough for Bollywood to lap up. No wonder Ab Tak Chhappan, Encounter: The Killing, Shootout at Lokhandwala, Raees and Bullet Raja are some movies already based on real police encounters. And, these are not the last! So, does our cinema glorify such bloodshed and violence?

No glorification

Screenwriter Sanjay Chauhan, who has given gripping dramas like Paan Singh Tomar and Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster, says, “I don’t think encounters are glorified in films. In our stories, before the cop kills the criminal there is enough evidence to drive home the point. Yes, in films we let the politician harbouring the criminals be slapped in public, which does not happen in reality.”

Tamil thriller ‘Vikram Vedha’ is his favourite encounter film. “The format of Vikram Betal is beautifully woven in this thriller. Nowhere does one see unnecessary glorification of violence,” he points out.

Dash of fiction

“As writers we pick up real stories and add a bit of fiction to make them more attractive for viewers,” admits writer-director Rupinder Inderjit, who made a debut with short film ‘Khoon Aali Chithi’. “There could be blood or gore in a film, but that is not to glorify either violence or encounters,” he adds. Rupinder is not moved by ‘reel-real’ comparisons. “If films affected people so much, post my Surkhi Bindi every man would have changed for better,” he laughs.

“A filmmaker builds his world not to justify one act or another. Like Stanley Kubrick, who gave films like ‘A Clockwork Orange’ or ‘The Shining’, may present a gory world, but he can portray a common man’s trouble through it as well.”

True voice

“Yadi filmmaker ki awaaz main sachchai hai toh the films needn’t necessarily glorify what is wrong,” says filmmaker Aditya Kripalani. His favourite encounter saga remains Ab Tak Chhappan. “Trailing a real cop, the film opens with Nana Patekar on a power trip but through it all, it sensitively delineates what he sacrifices in the line of duty. He is a changed man by the end of it all. Not even once one feels that there is shallow glorification of the encounters,” says the Tikli and Laxmi Bomb-maker.

While there could be instances where things are exaggerated, Kripalani puts it on the maker of films. “Ab Tak Chhappan one, Chandni Bar another; both are rooted in reality. As long as the filmmaker is true to his art, no exaggeration and no masala needs be added.”

mona@tribunemail.com