Gunning For Popularity: How Bollywood Films May Have Glorified Encounters

The sweat, the fear, the buildup, the stark sound, and then the splutter of red. Chances are, an encounter scene in a movie keeps you hooked.

Is it the sense of justice, the thrill of the chase or just the feeling of ¡°that¡¯s how all bad things end¡± that makes these movies engaging. Whatever be the reason, the fact remains that movies based on ¡°encounters¡± have been widely watched and even appreciated.

Be it International cinema, our very own Bollywood or even the regional fare. Something about this concoction of fear, thrill, justice, the good, the bad, seems to have caught the fancy of audience everywhere. But what happens when life imitates art?

The recent ¡°encounter¡± of four accused by the Hyderabad police in the gang rape case of a veterinary doctor seems to have caught the nation¡¯s collective imagination. There is a frenzy of sorts.

TV channels are busy showing their trademark heated debates (the need to have TV volumes in control, apparent!), social media brigade is busy giving out their judgment; hash tagging fervently, office discussions are quickly divided into for and against teams. The noise for the immediate justice somehow seems to be louder. Are the lines between reel and real blurring?

Ask Director Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra if our movies have been glorifying the popular culture of encounters, of officials taking law in their own hands and he says emphatically ¡°absolutely¡±.

This brings to mind several examples: Naseeruddin Shah in the 2002 released Encounter: The shooting executed with his trademark, smirk in the role of an inspector called Sam Bharucha. Nana Patekar was eerily similar to what we¡¯ve read of ¡°encounter specialist¡± Daya Nayak in the movie Ab tak chappan.

Brawny John Abraham has been a part of at least three movies revolving encounters, Ranveer Singh as Simmba caught the popular imagination and Manoj Bajpayee starrer web series Family Man is still on air. Encounters on screen seem to have a timeless appeal for a nation where justice seems to be elusive.

Author Kishwar Desai says, unfortunately, these kinds of encounters or rough justice are often the main theme of Indian cinema, where even police officers are shown taking law in their own hands. ¡°This sort of behaviour pleases the masses, because they themselves feel helpless battling the odds, and bloodletting, or violence where the villains are beaten to a pulp by the hero¡ª leads to a catharsis.

There is a sense of ¡®pleasure¡¯ in watching, on screen, those who have perpetuated grievous harm, get their justice. This may indeed, in real life, be leading to the kind of vigilante justice we see being meted out to so called law breakers by mobs both in cities and in rural areas. But well planned encounters, by a police force that upholds the law, is shocking. The reaction has also been shocking, but not surprising, as this is what popular media and cinema perpetuate.¡±

While life imitates art, it is not the "good causes" that seem to reflect in society, the violence and bloodbaths stick on for longer. The public then it seems is not so easily swayed by Bollywood. ¡°Do we give films the credit for empowering women? The fact remains that they have been getting a voice because the women themselves and some sections of the society have been fighting for it. Some films, then, have just been depicting this,¡± says, poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar of why society has always been more powerful than films.

Though regretfully, this societal power is never channelised in the right direction, or in a prescribed fashion. This is not just an Indian affliction, across the world, films do show the act of delivering justice is taken on by the hero, irrespective of the law of the land.

¡°¡¯Justice¡¯ being doled out by people in positions of authority has been a recurrent motif in movies, all over the world, not just India, says author and social commentator Santosh Desai. ¡°Surprisingly a ¡°hero¡±, wearing a uniform is doing it seems to make it more legitimate. The fact remains this sort of ¡°justice¡¯ has existed in the society despite the movies; it is not there because of the movies. Of course there are no easy answers to if it is ¡®correct¡¯ or not,¡± he says.

The road to justice is long. Impatience and hasty judgements made over social media also don¡¯t help in garnering support for the law to be followed in an orderly fashion. The course of law is never understood properly in the frenzy that is amped up on social media, the grey areas are slippery for sane action. Everyone wants to be a hero.

V S Krishna of The Human Rights Forum, Andhra and Telangana says, ¡°People of influence have to be very careful of what they are doing as it could have massive implications. The entire way the situation was handled by the police in Hyderabad is extremely damaging to say the least. The chances are, this kind of doling out justice will spread to other areas.¡±

The portrayal of law keepers as disruptive law breakers themselves is fatal for the fabric of a law abiding society. Akhtar says, ¡°If the police play the judge, the jury and the executioner, what is the need for a judiciary at all? This is not how a civilized society should function. Extra judicial killing should never be encouraged.¡± ¡­

Here is a quick list of some encounter inspired movies:

Article 15 (2019)

Batla House (2019)

Ab Tak chappan 2 (2015)

Shootout at Wadala (2013)

Depatment (2012)

Shagird (2011)

Golimaar, Telugu (2010)

Shootout at Lokhandwala (2007)

Risk( 2007)

Encounter Daya Nayak, Kannada (2005)

Ab Tak chappan (2004)

Kagaar (2003)

Encounter:The killing (2002)

Satya(1998)