Index [in order of appearance]

‘The Emperor Suan Sung asked the ‘Onlookers thought they were witnessing
painter Li Chin Chi to paint the screens a film shoot, while police inspector
of his bedroom. The painter drew a Vinod said he thought the youths fleeing
landscape of mountains and waterfalls. in the speeding car were terrorists.’
A few days later the Emperor complained: Cops, two ‘terrorists’ in 20-minute car chase
“Your waterfalls make too much noise. The Times of India, Monday, July 11, 2011.

I can no longer sleep”.’ MUMBAI: Curious onlookers and policemen suspected that the youths in
the speeding car were fleeing ‘terrorists’. Police said the car belonged to Orix Auto
Raul Ruiz, Poetics of Cinema, Éditions Dis Voir, Paris, 2005, p. 34. Infrastructure Services Limited, which is in the fleet service business for the
corporate sector. ‘Our driver, Subramani Devandran (29), after dropping a guest
in Chembur, headed to Parel to pick up another, when the incident occurred.
Devandran stopped at Parel for snacks and left the keys behind. The next moment,
the accused stepped in and sped away. On seeing Devandran run behind the
car, the four policemen got suspicious and chased it. When the police cornered the
accused, they jumped out and started running along the main road in Sion,’
company fleet assistant Shashidharan Nair told TOI.
Onlookers thought they were witnessing a film shoot, while police inspector
Vinod Randive said they thought the two in the car were terrorists. ‘Our suspi-
cions were raised when, instead of stopping, they accelerated on hearing the siren.
When the policemen closed in on them, they entered the bylanes on road 21 at
BMC colony at high speed. After two rounds, they entered road 16, which led them
to an exit point outside GTB railway station. They drove towards Sion-Chembur
but they got caught in the traffic snarl and Kunchikurve was held,’ Randive said.
The accused have been booked under the Indian Penal Code sections 34
(common intention ), 379 (theft) and 427 (mischief causing damage) and they have
been remanded to police custody till July 14.

Agent Vinod: Movie Review

The Times of India, Thursday, March 22, 2012.

MUMBAI: He tries to be a Bond-cum-Bourne kind of a secret agent. More than

an intelligence officer, he comes across as an action hero — a Singham over a spy.
More than clothes, he changes countries. He can open any door, barge any security,
escape every attack and kill any person. He has instant access to database of
spies and terrorists across the globe at his fingertips. He is the man — Agent Vinod.
All of that is acceptable as long as the intended espionage thriller has an inven-
tive storyline. But after a world tour across half a dozen countries, the film culmi-
nates with a traditional climax where the Indian capital faces a nuclear-threat.
The time bomb has to be detected, decoded and deactivated. The only novelty in the
narrative is that our neighbouring country is not the perpetrator. It’s not the
terrorists but some elite business community who spread terror around the world
so that they can gain out of the sudden stock market fluctuations across the
world. Ludicrous as it may sound, this is the film — Agent Vinod.
Agent Vinod (Saif Ali Khan) is an Indian intelligence officer who is on a
mission to unearth a global conspiracy. A suitcase bomb is being stealthily shifted
across countries to finally reach New Delhi where it’s targeted. En route Vinod
meets Iram (Kareena Kapoor), a Pakistani agent who has her own agenda but sub-
sequently helps him on his operation.
The spy thriller isn’t essentially designed as a suspense flick. Like his last film
‘Johnny Gaddaar’, Sriram Raghavan ensures that the viewer is aware of the
villain’s identity at the very onset. The film is more about the hero’s journey to reach
the rogue. Moreover there are so many of the scoundrels in the story, spread out
across several countries, that you lose track of the mastermind. The writing
by Raghavan and Arijit Biswas, after a point, gets convoluted and manipulative to
‘As soon as they spotted me, they started
suit the scheme of things. Moreover the exaggerated action often overpowers firing. A bullet hit my stomach. When
the aptitude you expect from an espionage film. Also the action is more brawn over
brain. Thankfully the romance track between Saif and Kareena isn’t overblown.
I screamed, they ran outside and again
Their camaraderie is buildup amidst the central plot and the narrative never opened fire while getting into a car
strays from its core genre. However at one point you do feel that the film is going
off-track when the stylized spy flick ponders on the trials and tribulations in parked outside. Two more bullets hit my
the life of an undercover agent. Further it attempts to explore their latent aspira-
tions — he wanted to be a painter, she a doctor! Ah! Such pragmatism doesn’t
shoulders.’
work in the larger-than-life picture. Mercifully their past isn’t explored through Cop on security duty shoots at self for medal
actual flashback footages but is merely described through dialogues. Verbosity The Times of India, Tuesday, March 22, 2011.
is better than visual atrocity.
Beyond some sporadic moments, the film lacks any underlying tone of JAIPUR: A police constable guarding the quarters of former BJP MLA
humour, despite the potential. That makes the proceedings somewhat dry. The Surendra Singh Rathore here on Sunday shot and injured himself allegedly in
dialogues are plain functional. Pooja Ladha Surti’s editing is smart and sassy pursuit of gallantry medals and promotions.
and the long runtime doesn’t hurt much. The action is slick but doesn’t stand out. Mahendra Rajguru, a constable with the Reserve Lines, was transferred to
CK Muraleedharan’s cinematography is competent. The background score which Rathore’s security on March 16. He is now undergoing treatment at the SMS
derives from James Bond signature tune and RD Burman numbers works well. Hospital’s ICU with three bullet injuries in his shoulder and stomach. Police have
recovered some narcotic drugs from his quarters and claimed that Rajguru
Here comes the real Agent Vinod was under their influence when the incident happened.
The Times of India, Monday, March 26, 2012. According to police, the incident took place around midnight at bungalow num-
ber 208 in Frontier Colony near Adarsh Nagar belonging to MLA Surendra
MUMBAI: Meet Mahendra Sandhu, the original Agent Vinod who even gets Singh Rathore. Panicked residents, after hearing a series of gunshots, informed the
an honorary mention in the new Agent Vinod film by Saif Ali Khan. ‘I’m still police. ‘A police team was rushed to the spot and found Rajguru with three bullet
known as Agent Vinod after 35 years,’ says Mahendra Sandhu. ‘Cops at traffic sig- injuries,’ a senior police officer said. In his statement to police after the incident,
nals, security guys at the airport still call me Agent Vinod. For years and even Rajguru claimed that he spotted two to three people standing inside the bun-
now people shout “Agent Vinod” when they spot me.’ galow premises. ‘As soon as they spotted me, they started firing. A bullet hit my
stomach. When I screamed, they ran outside and again opened fire while getting
into a car parked outside. Two more bullets hit my shoulders,’ Rajguru claimed
in his statement. Rajguru further said he had also fired about 20–22 rounds from his
gun and claimed that ‘some bullets might have hit the men’. ‘We registered an
FIR on the basis of Mahendra’s statement and launched a manhunt for the attackers,’
the officer said. He, however, said when forensic examination of the spot was
conducted, police found all empty cartridges belonged to Rajguru’s gun and they
started suspecting his story.
‘His conscience did not allow him to kill just fought death and survived the biggest battle of his life. Also, in the released
film, the footage of the fight scene is frozen at the accident moment and a caption
the man on-screen, who had just fought appears onscreen marking this as the instance of the actor’s injury. After recove-

death and survived the biggest battle of ring from the catastrophe, Amitabh has acted in several films in the past few
decades and gave many hits too. No actor (old or young) has been able to match his
his life.’ magic and charisma till date.
At the age of 69, Amitabh Bachchan is still strong and raring to go. He had
1982 Coolie accident undergone three surgeries in the last few decades because of some complications
Hindustan Times, Friday, February 17, 2012. arisen out of that incident. But, he always emerged stronger.

NEW DELHI: Who can forget the tragic Coolie accident that Bachchan met
with while filming an action scene with co-star Puneet Issar. The actor nearly
escaped death following the accident. In fact, he reportedly clinically died for eleven
minutes. But like it happens in Bollywood films, he revived, as wife Jaya Bachchan
exclaimed, ‘look, his toe is moving!’ But alas, that was just the starting of his
health troubles.
During a 1983 interview, Bachchan realised how he was privileged to have
the best of medicines, being imported from abroad, while others who did not have
the luxury, suffered helplessly. In a 1983 interview the actor talked at length about
the transformation he underwent post the Coolie accident — ‘There were people
who wanted to know details as to how it all happened and whether it was the punch
or the table or whatever,… and I tell them that it’s not important as to how I was
injured, but what really is important is the lack of medical facilities after I was in-
jured and what made me really aware of these factors when I was in the hospital
was that we sadly lack timely facilities towards people who might be in a similar
condition that I was.’

Amitabh‘s Injury on sets of ‘Coolie’ in 1982

Breaking News online, Friday, February 10, 2012.

Although Amitabh began his film career from ‘Saat Hindustani’ in 1969,
he established himself in Hindi Cinema with his movie, ‘Zanjeer’ in 1973. He broke
the traditional romantic era and impressed the audience with his ‘angry young
man’ image. He was then offered films with fight sequences. Sometimes, experts
from Hollywood were also invited to specially direct certain tough action scenes
only for Amitabh, like the beginning ‘train-Dacoity’ scene in ‘Sholay’.
‘Coolie’ was made in 1982. The story was based upon the lifestyle of the rail-
way coolies, where Amitabh himself was playing the character of a Coolie who was
also the unofficial leader of them, fighting for their cause against the tyranny
of the Wealthy heartless community. It was an action scene on 26 July 1982 when
Amitabh was supposed to jump on to a table fighting with Puneet Issar. Perhaps
that was a black day for Bachchan and the whole world of silver screen. When he
jumped towards the table the corner of the table struck his abdomen, resulting
in a spleeny rupture (injury to the spleen) from which he lost a significant amount
of blood. Amitabh was rushed to the hospital for splenectomy and his condition
remained critical for months. He spent time in the hospital struggling for his live.
Amitabh’s fans and well wishers across the country were shocked and started
prayers in temples, mosques and Churches. Also, there were long queues of well-
wisher fans outside the hospital where he was recuperating. Such a massive
display of love for an actor was witnessed earlier or till now.
By the grace of God, Amitabh defeated death and survived. He was again back
to shooting and the film was released in 1983 making it a huge success due to the
enormous pre-release publicity of Bachchan’s accident. Director Manmohan Desai
altered the climax of ‘Coolie’ after this accident. The hero was supposed to die in
the end, but the change of script made him alive, as Desai did not want to upset the
Bachchan fans. His conscience too did not allow him to kill a man on-screen, who
‘All it took was a photograph of the ‘The plot’s on the napkin.
so-called masterpiece to blow Anyone interested in the movie?’
the lid on the art heist that wasn’t.’ India: Maria Susairaj walks free — A case of chopped body
The Times of India, Tuesday, July 5, 2011.
‘Hello, the Goya is still on our wall, thank you. (click)’
The Times of India, Wednesday, February 15, 2012. Maria Susairaj walked free out of the jail on July 2. Will her mind be free
from seeing the collage of images of her boyfriend allegedly chopping a body into
MUMBAI: While the art world was stunned by the sudden discovery of a pieces in front of her, with blood splattering all over and the possible guilt she
‘priceless Goya’ in the house of a Mumbai property broker, leading to the suspicion faces hereafter?
that the painting may have been stolen, all it took was procuring a photograph of MUMBAI: Cut to three years ago. An aspiring actress named Maria Susairaj
the so-called masterpiece to blow the lid on the art heist that wasn’t. makes contact with a creative director of a television channel for a role in a TV
The version of Francisco Goya’s ‘Saturn Devouring His Son’, found in Majid soap. Some arrangements are made between them and this creative director, Neeraj
Sultan Khan’s Oshiwara residence last Monday, even at first glance is no more Grover, lands up at Maria’s house for a night out. In between their escapade,
than a cheap imitation of a timeless classic that has been on display since 1889 at Susairaj keeps receiving angry calls from her boyfriend, Emile Jerome, telling her
Madrid’s Prado. The Oshiwara police supposedly discovered the painting in to throw Grover out, after knowing of his presence in the house. The boyfriend
Sultan Khan’s home when they had gone there to search for illegal weapons follow- arrives at her house in the early morning only to get into a scuffle with Grover after
ing a tip-off last Monday. They noticed a large box in one of the rooms, and Khan, seeing him in bed with his girlfriend.
on being asked about it, told them that it contained a 19th century masterpiece by Jerome, in a fit of anger and jealousy stabs the man several times, leaving him
Goya. ‘Khan had to recover dues of about Rs 15–20 lakh from another property bleeding to death. As per Susairaj’s ‘constant statement to the police’ she told
dealer. That person told him to take this painting instead, saying it was worth her boyfriend to take him to the hospital, but despite her pleas, Jerome, a trained
crores,’ senior police inpector Dilip Rupwate told Mumbai Mirror. The police sent naval officer who knew the consequences of bleeding profusely, refused to budge.
the painting to the archaeological department in Sion, where experts are still Finally, they both decided to dispose off his body. But how? They devise an alleged
speculating on the chance of it being a Goya, and are setting up a committee soon plan to erase all evidence, which they perhaps think will save them from the
to verify its authenticity. police. They allegedly chop the body into pieces and burn it. Jerome told the young
But the cops, after talking to officials at Prado, are already convinced that the actress to buy choppers from a nearby shop. After her return, Jerome cuts the
painting is a fake. ‘Still, we are waiting for the report from Sion,’ Rupwate said, body in several pieces, stuffs it in a sports bag and both drive to a nearby jungle
adding that Goya’s son had made certain replicas of his father’s work, and they’re to burn the body. Hence, no trace of blood, body, motive, weapons, etc. All
trying to check if it could be one of them. Rupwate said that when they examined evidences wiped out. After a few days, both are arrested. The case begins. Every
the 3.5x4.5 ft frame at Khan’s home they found it to be very old. Based on that, they time a new confession from each of the offenders. The case is prolonged as
arrested Khan for copyright violation. Khan was presented in court last week, there is no evidence of ’what really happened and how it happened.’
where he was remanded to police custody for two days, following judicial custody. Cut to the present, July 2. Over three years have passed, Susairaj who alle-
He was later released on bail. Despite attempts, Khan could not be reached for gedly helped in the murder and who reports say misled the police, walks free
comments. When Mumbai Mirror contacted the museum in Spain, an amused offi- from the jail and her boyfriend Jerome, will be free after 7 years. The whole nation
cial said they had been inundated with calls from India since morning. ‘Worry of India was shocked with the intensity of the murder and is still numb from
not,’ he said with a chuckle, ‘the priceless masterpiece is still safe, and not stolen.’ the verdict. Crying for justice are Grover’s parents. Even as Susairaj walks free,
The painting was originally one of the murals at Goya’s home, La Quinta del the case raises a number of pertinent questions, which are likely to remain
Sordo. Saturn Devouring His Son, the most famous of his Black Paintings, unanswered.
depicts the Greek myth where Titan Cronus, fearing that he would be overthrown One filmmaker is capitalizing by making a film on the issue and promoting
by his children, ate each one during their birth. The work is one of the 14 so- it as ‘exploring the mindset at that very moment of killing, undertaken by people
called Black Paintings that Goya painted directly onto the walls of his house some- who are not killers or deranged people.’
time between 1819 and 1823. It was transferred to canvas after Goya’s death and
has since been held in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
Neeraj Grover murder: Ram Gopal Verma wants to cast Maria Susairaj in film
India Today, Saturday, July 3, 2011.

Notoriety is turning out to be Maria Monica Susairaj’s ticket to stardom. On

the day she walked out of Byculla Central Women’s Prison in Mumbai and
appeared in a primetime-grabbing press conference, publicity-savvy Ram Gopal
Varma announced he wanted to cast her as the heroine of his next film.
And now, there is the buzz that the producers of the television reality show,
Bigg Boss, are keen to have her as a contestant on the upcoming Season 5. The
irony is in-your-face. If Maria, a one-time struggling Kannada starlet, looks all set
to get her real break on the hit TV show, she came in the limelight for the murder
of TV producer Neeraj Grover in the first instance. It may be a while before she
signs Bigg Boss or Varma’s next film — or any other project, for that matter.
But the potential spoils of her grizzly claim to fame were obvious on Saturday at
‘Oiled men in shorts climb impossible
the press meet her lawyer, Shaikh M. Sharif, and she held in Mumbai to clear trees and bound across rooftops like
her name.
Going by what happened at the conference, the onetime struggler is already a
gazelles. They are “adivasis” who break
star. At the press meet, Maria cut a picture of demureness, letting her lawyer into your houses, rob your money and
do most of the talking. As friends of Neeraj Grover — the man she was accused of
killing (she has been let off with the lighter charge of destroying the evidence) — clothes, rape women and sell girls into
protested and as press photographers shamelessly reduced the event to a circus for
photo-ops, it looked like she would break into tears any moment now. ‘I am inno-
the sex trade. If they find a newborn,
cent,’ she whispered into the microphone. ‘I am convicted and this is a big stigma they rip the baby apart to satiate their
in my life.’ Clearly, she chose her words well for maximum melodramatic effect,
even as her lawyer dismissed all the charges levelled against her by the prosecution.
hunger by drinking the blood.’
Maria took the mike again and said in an emotion-choked whisper, her hand
held by a relative: ‘The time I spent in jail was very...I should say blessed because Imaginary robbers fuel mass hysteria
I got close to God. It was He who brought me out today.’ India Today, Tuesday, February 14, 2012.
If the press meet was a screen test of sorts, Maria must have impressed many
sfilm producer who watched it live on TV. In Bollywood, abounding with examples MUMBAI: Rumor had it that members of the ‘Chaddi Baniyan’ gang were
such as Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan, who walked straight out of jail to find trying to break into houses and kill occupants before running away with
plum film offers waiting for them, there should be a lot of scope for Maria. On May 7, valuables. Besides this, stories of ‘monkey men’ who climb trees and jump over
2007, Maria’s boyfriend Emile Jerome, a former navy officer, got into a fight with rooftops, had also left the residents unnerved. Local residents armed with lathis
Grover at her flat in Mumbai’s Malad area. The altercation ended with Jerome stab- started patrolling areas of different neighborhoods in Mumbai.
bing the TV producer to death. Maria and Jerome, according to the prosecution, Yet this has not prevented a mad frenzy among the residents of Mumbai and
then cut Grover’s body into pieces, parcelled the pieces in plastic bags, and disposed Thane where scores of people are patrolling their areas armed with bamboos, iron
of them in Thane’s Manor forest. rods and undertaking ‘bandobast’ duty outside their housing societies each night.
Meanwhile, Ram Gopal Varma, whose upcoming film Not A Love Story is This has led to many unfortunate incidents where innocent people wandering near
based on the headline-grabbing murder, has already tweeted claiming he wants to these vigilantes have been beaten black and blue or even killed.
cast her in his next project. ‘Maria Susairaj wanted to become famous as an act- The complaints were so convincing that the police started to wonder if the
ress and she became famous as a murderess,’ Varma wrote on his Twitter page. ‘If monkey man was indeed real. After locals informed them that they saw two
things went well it could have been a Rangeela for her. Since things went wrong, ‘monkey men’ hiding in the trees, they promptly came to the spot and also called
her dreams of becoming an actress went for a toss.’ And he added: ‘Now that she has in the Fire Brigade to climb the trees to check whether the monkey men were
been released I want to sign Maria Susairaj for a film.’ But Varma is known present or not. Not just that, the cops also went to a couple of footwear shops in their
these days more for his penchant for courting controversy than the films he makes. vicinity inquiring whether any of them had fit ‘special springs’ on the soles of
A section of the industry, however, is guarded about taking Varma’s declaration shoes, that gave the Monkey Man the ability to jump like a monkey.
seriously. It believes his offer to cast Maria in a film as nothing but a publicity gim-
mick for Not A Love Story.
On a cue, Varma said to agencies: ‘Movies are made for publicity. All that I do Now, monkey men rumours claim two lives in Kandivali
is for publicity. It is my job.’ Maybe Maria will have to take a lesson or two from the Indian Express, Wednesday, February 29, 2012.
champion headline maker.
MUMBAI: Though the Mumbai Police have dismissed rumours of ‘monkey
men’ terrorising localities in the eastern and western suburbs, two men from
Kandivali lost their lives on Monday night in the melee and stampede-like situation
that followed an alleged sighting in the area. Additional Commissioner of Police
(North) Ramrao Pawar confirmed that such rumours were doing the rounds and
they had asked people to stop believing them. While rumours that monkey men —
who can climb tall trees with ease and jump over rooftops were trying to break into
homes and kill residents before committing robberies — began from the Mulund-
Bhandup area, they have now gradually spread to other areas, the police said. On
Monday night, residents of Tulaskarwadi in Kandivali (West) claimed to have
spotted a dark-complexioned man running on their roofs. The incident took place
around 8.30 pm when Radhika Bhagiya (17) and her friends, all SSC students,
were studying in a room. Bhagiya said she was sitting beside the window when a
well-built and dark-skinned man put his arms through the window and tried
to grab her. ‘I panicked and rushed down with my friends. The terrace door was
locked so the man jumped onto the roof and ran away,’ said Bhagiya who went
to the Kandivali police station and registered a non-cognisable complaint.
 ‘Before that, around 6.30 pm, a woman heard footsteps on her roof and called
up her son Narendra Patel (24), asking him to hurry home as she was afraid he
‘Schoolgirl runs away from home
might be the monkey man. Patel, who panicked and rushed home, crashed his motor- to Mumbai in search of her idol Salman
cycle into a truck and died,’ said an officer from the Kandivali police station.
Around 11.30 pm, another man died due to the panic in the area. Rajesh Chavan (25)
Khan, only to find herself lost
had come to stay at his in-laws’ residence. The family was having dinner when in the middle of an unknown city.’
locals of the nearby Sai Nagar area began yelling that the monkey man had been
spotted there. Chavan, his wife and in-laws ran outside the house to nab the man Teen comes to city to meet her hero Salman, finds villain instead
when he slipped on the tiles of the congested lanes of the chawl and fell on his back, MiD DAY, Monday, March 5, 2012.
breaking his spinal cord. A crowd of around 50 residents were running on the
narrow lane at the time. Chavan was rushed to Bhagwati Hospital in Borivali, where MUMBAI: Kurla RPF finds the 14-year-old near a railway station restroom;
he was declared dead on arrival. The Kandivali police have registered an acci- cops now trying to track down the unidentified man who duped her of money by
dental death report and claimed that some residents were spreading rumours and promising to take her to the star.
creating terror. Spending a few hours watching Guddi — a classic about how a schoolgirl (Jaya
On February 20, a police constable was injured in stone-pelting on Kurar Bhaduri) falls in love with a movie star (Dharmendra), or rather his silver screen
police station by an angry mob after residents of Malad (East) demanded that three persona, and how her enthusiasm fades as she gets to know more realities of the reel
alleged robbers held by the police be handed over to them to be lynched. This, world — might have saved 14-year-old Pinky (name changed) a world of trouble.
however, was not the first time that angry residents in an area have resorted to vigi- The teenager from Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh, ran away from her house with
lante justice to allegedly bring a ‘robber’ to justice following rumours. On Feb- a sum of Rs 3000 to meet her idol Salman Khan.
ruary 12, a 37-year-old man who had gone to meet his brother at his Ghatkopar resi- Unfortunately, once in Mumbai, she found herself lost in the middle of an
dence was beaten up by around 20-25 residents. The victim Ravindra More was unknown city with neither money to go back nor food to eat. The star-struck Std IX
wearing shorts, leading locals to believe that he was a member of the chaddi baniyan student disappeared from her home on February 23. Her father lodged a missing
gang rumoured to be robbing houses in the Ghatkopar-Mulund stretch. A men- complaint with the local police. Even as cops had initiated investigations, on Fe-
tally challenged person was beaten up by residents in Bhandup on February 8 after bruary 28, Pinky called her home informing that she was safe in Bhopal.
he was mistaken for a thief. Police traced the call and found that it was in fact made from Mumbai. A team
of cops arrived in the city, and after coordinating with RPF, Kurla police, found
the person whose phone had been used. According to the police, the phone belonged
to a tea stall owner outside Kurla Terminus. On inquiring, he revealed that Pinky,
along with another man, had approached him on February 28 to make the call
to her home. Police continued to trace the infatuated teen, while another team from
Madhya Pradesh police was sent to Kolkata to find Pinky’s whereabouts.
Finally, Kurla RPF found Pinky by a restroom at the Kurla Terminus on
Sunday. ‘Our constable spotted her near the lavatory. She was immediately brought
to the police station, where she revealed that she ran away from her home to meet
Salman Khan. However, on arriving in Mumbai she was confused about where to
go and what to do and broke down in tears. At that point she was spotted by a
stranger, who consoled her and promised to take her to the actor,’ said a police officer
from Kurla RPF.
‘That person demanded money from her and vanished after pocketing all the
cash Pinky had left. She said she didn’t approach police believing she would
somehow manage to meet the actor,’ added the officer. ‘The girl will be handed over
to Madhya Pradesh police, who will carry out necessary investigations. Various
medical tests will also be conducted to check if she was sexually assaulted. Mean-
while, we are trying to track down the unidentified man who duped her,’ said
Rajesh Kamble, senior police inspector, Kurla RPF.
Three years ago on May 29, MiD DAY had reported (Salman-E-Ishq) the adven-
tures of two teens from Shimla who came to Mumbai to meet Salman Khan. The
boys met one Rishu Jarat of Ludhiana, who took them to a relative’s salon in Parel
when they arrived at Dadar station. Meanwhile, their worried parents had
registered a missing complaint in Shimla. The cops were moved when they heard
of the boys’ desire and took them to Salman’s residence. Unfortunately, the actor
was not at home, but the cops took them to St Andrews High School, where an
ad shoot was on. ‘Even though they couldn’t meet Salman, they were happy to get a
glimpse of the shoot,’ a cop said.
‘So at 1 a.m. the suitor will be waiting for birds, which are small and quick, and
the bar girl in a taxi at Haji Ali, anxiously they have to wave their arms wildly about
scanning every person walking towards even to touch them. As the girl and her
him, every car that pulls up. She might be ardent suitor reach out to catch a bird,
late, he might think that she’s ditched they sometimes, accidentally, can’t help
him and might start cursing her, but then touching each other. This is new for
finally she shows up and she takes his the man — remember, he hasn’t touched
breath away, she is so beautiful. When she her up to this point. As a bird lands on
gets in the taxi with him she is dressed her shoulder, he must make a grab for it,
in a miniskirt, and he notices how smooth and if the bird flies off, his hand lands
and fair her thighs are. He smells her on her shoulder. If it should fly close to her
perfume. She is wearing something that breast, why, it is within the rules of the
leaves her arms bare, or she is wearing game that he should try his best to capture
a sari and a backless blouse. She is not the songbird, which might just be that
smiling now, she is not meeting his eyes little bit too quick for him, and his hand,
now. She is watching the sidewalk for in its dart forward, might meet with
something, until finally she sees him: a something else, softer, harder. And so the
man with a couple of cages slung over whole of the tiny Fiat taxi is filled with
his shoulder, filled with birds. birdsong, her giggling, his laughter, and,
She gives the taxi driver a fifty and tells every now and then, a quick female
him to take a walk, go drink some juice. gasp. And so it is that at last, at long last,
She calls out to the bird seller and he the dancing girl and her patient suitor
comes over. The cages have tiny song- go all soft and hot in the back of the taxi,
birds fluttering about inside, with beaks the space around them filled with flut-
of different colours. The dancer asks tering and panicked songbirds.
her man to buy some of the birds — six for Half an hour or an hour later, the door
five hundred rupees; ‘If you want more of the taxi opens and half a dozen or a
fun take a dozen,’ advises Anees — and the dozen dead birds are thrown out on the
girl rolls up all the windows of the taxi road. If there are any remaining alive,
and opens the door of the cage and all the they fly out over the great dark sea, free
birds fly out and fill the small dark taxi at last.’
with their energy and their music. She Suketu Mehta, Maximum City — Bombay Lost and Found, Penguin Books
laughs with delight and asks her man to India Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, 2006, p. 289–290.

play a game with her: Catch the birds.

They reach out their hands to grab the
‘A guy from the slums becomes a millio- Slumdog Millionaire,Written by Simon Beaufoy, November 4, 2007
© Slumdog Films Limited,
naire overnight. You know the only other 39 Long Acre, London Wc2e 9Lg

person who’s done that? Me.’ 140 INT. STUDIO. NIGHT. 140 144 CONTINUED: 144
PREM PREM
Sushil Kumar from Bihar: First to win Rs 5 crore on KBC Time for a commercial break, Ladies (laughs) You’ve said that before, yaar.
and Gentlemen. I know, I
The Times of India, Thursday, 27 October, 2011. know, I can’t stand the tension Prem finishes pissing. Goes over to the
either. Don’t even think about leaving washbasins, runs the taps and washes
MOTIHARI (EAST CHAMPARAN): A ‘baagar’ of ‘Majhauwa’ is how a person your seat. We’ll be back. his hands.
(CONTINUED) JAMAL O/S
is referred to when he has to be ridiculed in this part of the country, ‘baagar’ No, I really don’t.
meaning a fool and ‘Majhauwa’ being the Mughal-era revenue pargana that is 97. PREM
modern-day East Champaran and West Champaran districts of Bihar. From this 140 CONTINUED: 140 What? You can’t take the money and run
The lights flick back on. Prem slumps now. You’re on the edge of history,
land of sweet-tongued simpletons hails the Bihari Babu who created television back in his chair. kid!
history by winning the Rs 5-crore jackpot on offer at Amitabh Bachchan-hosted PREM (CONT’D) JAMAL O/S
‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’. You’ve got the luck of the devil, I don’t see what else I can do.
yaar, I’ll give you that. PREM
Calling Sushil Kumar alias Mantu a ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ would be an affront JAMAL Maybe it is written, my friend.
of sorts to this 27-year-old postgraduate in psychology. But this IPS aspirant is I- I need to- You’re going to win this. Trust me,
also — like the story of Mumbai teen played by Dev Patel in Danny Boyle-directed PREM you’re going to win.
Oh, the toilet. Sure. Naveed, Jamal
blockbuster — a rags-to-riches story, his current job as a computer operator wants the bog. Prem leaves. Jamal flushes and comes
fetching him Rs 6000 per month and his parents and four brothers so penurious out of the cubicle. Goes to the wash-
that they live in a rented accommodation because the dilapidated ancestral The Floor Manager and a Security Guard basins. In the mist on the mirror
usher Jamal off-stage. Prem looks up £above the taps is written the letter
house is mortgaged to a moneylender against a loan. at the gallery, raises his eyes at the ‘B’. Jamal stares at it. Gradually
Sushil’s father Amarnath Patel works as a clerk for a contractor. ‘Mantu, Director. Some show. Then he gathers it fades, leaving only the growing fury
third among my five sons, has been studious and inquisitive since his childhood,’ himself and heads off-stage. on his face staring back at him.
he said. His wife, Renu Devi, added her son has been watching KBC for several 141 INT. CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI
years though the family came to own a TV set only last year when her son got the TERMINUS. DAY. 141
state government’s contractual job which, ironically, involves tracking the flow The clock reads five oh three. Jamal
stands on the footbridge. Humanity
of millions of rupees under MGNREGA in neighbouring West Champaran district. washes around him. His eyes dart
Their three elder sons, including Sushil, are married. One of them works around, frightened to miss her. Checks
at a garment shop while the other is an insurance firm agent. The younger brothers the clock again. Six. The platform is
almost deserted. He wanders away.
are studying at Motihari where Sushil was also schooled in a Hindi-medium
government school before doing graduation and master’s from local SNS College 142 INT. CORRIDOR. NIGHT. 142
and MS College respectively. Prior to Sushil, no one in the five-season history Prem wanders down the corridor followed
by a Security Guard. Another Security
of KBC ever turned richer by Rs 5 crore. When the prize money was Rs 1 crore during Guard is waiting at the entrance to
the first three seasons, Harshwardhan Navathe of Mumbai was the only one to the toilet. Prem goes in, leaving the
return home as a crorepati. Its season 4, when the jackpot became worth Rs 5 crore, two Guards in the corridor.
saw 37-year-old Jharkhand woman Rahat Tasleem quit after answering the Rs 1-
143 INT. CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI
crore poser. TERMINUS. DAY. 143
Kumar’s show of success was filmed on October 25 and is slated to go on air Jamal stands on the footbridge gazing
down at the hordes of commuters.
on November 2. Still in Mumbai with his newly-wed wife Seema, Sushil told TOI over
Five o’clock, five fifteen, five thirty.
phone he would use the money to repay the loan and get his ancestral house back. Six. Jamal rests his head against
‘I would also buy a plot of land to construct a ‘comfortable house’ for my parents and the railings.
brothers,’ he said and added he would use part of the money on preparations for
144 INT. TOILET. NIGHT 144
the civil services exam for which he would now move to Delhi. A huge fan of Bach- Jamal is in one of the cubicles. Prem
chan, Sushil said meeting the superstar was like a dream come true and he goes to the urinal. Unzips.
PREM
touched his feet when he went to the sets because he wasn’t confident of clearing the
A guy from the slums becomes a
‘very tough’ Fastest-Finger-First round. ‘I had dreamt of meeting Bachchan but millionaire overnight. You know the
not of winning this big an amount,’ he said. only other person who’s done that?
Me. I know what it’s like. I know what
you’ve been through.
JAMAL O/S
I’m not going to become a milionaire.
I don’t know the answer.
(CONTINUED)

98.
‘The duo broke into the actress’ home ‘Sohail was very curious to know if there
using sleep-inducing gas.’ was life after death.’
2 held for theft at actress Sridevi’s home 12-year-old Delhi boy dies aping TV serial suicide
Mumbai Mirror, Saturday, February 11, 2012. Hindustan Times, Thursday, February 9, 2012.

MUMBAI: Two months after valuables were reported from actress Sridevi’s NEW DELHI: Twelve-year-old Mohammad Sohail was addicted to crime
Oshiwara residence, two men have been arrested for the theft. The accused — serials on television and convinced that one comes back to life after committing
Manoj Rathod, 22, and Prakash Kamble, 24, are drug addicts, said the police, ad- suicide. His belief turned fatal.
ding that they had stolen the valuables to buy narcotic drugs. Sohail climbed on a pile of four chairs and hung himself from a ceiling fan with
On December 7, a laptop, a cellphone and silverware collectively valued at his mother’s dupatta on Tuesday. He was alone at his home in Maujpur, northeast
Rs 9 lakh had gone missing from the actress’s home. The police suspect that the Delhi, at that time. Sohail’s father Mohammad Salim said the boy had probably tried
accused duo had sprayed some sleep-inducing chemical in the rooms to avoid to copy a TV episode from February 4 in which a woman died in a similar way.
getting caught. This is reminiscent of the 1972 superhit film ‘Bawarchi’ in which Sohail, his family said, had watched many crime serials in which an actor shown
the lead actor, Rajesh Khanna, loots his employers in a similar manner. committing suicide in one episode performed a new role in the next. The Class 5
A Filmy Flashback: In the superhit film ‘Bawarchi’ actor Rajesh Khanna plays student of an MCD school took this to believe that the actor had come back to life.
a cook who steals from his employers by using a sleep-inducing spray in the ‘Sohail was very curious to know if there was life after death. After watching
room. In the 1972 film, Khanna plays a do-gooder who steals from his rich employers the episode on February 4, he had asked if he would die after hanging himself
and distributes the booty to the less-privileged. According to the police, Rathod in a similar way,’ said Salim, a factory worker in Maujpur. ‘I scolded him for asking
and Kamble were strolling around Versova telephone exchange to identify their this. I would always tell him that TV is all drama,’ he said. Sohail’s mother
target when they zeroed in on bungalow 18 belonging to Sridevi and her film Ishrat Jahan had been witness to his curiosities. ‘His mind was full of questions and
producer husband Boney Kapoor. The police said the theft could have taken place he would always seek the answers from others. I used to ignore his curiosities,
between 4am and 9.30am. Besides Sridevi and her husband, their two children but never thought it would cost me his life,’ she said. Nimesh Desai, psychiatrist
were fast asleep. A few hours earlier, the family had returned from a trip to Dubai and director of the Institute of Human Behaviour & Allied Sciences, said Sohail
and were fast asleep. They had returned a little before 3am and had retired for might have been psychologically troubled or vulnerable to psychological problems.
the day a little over an hour later.
When the accused duo got inside, they sprayed some chemical from a can that
they were carrying. This doubly ensured that none of them woke up until the
next morning. They spent about an hour gathering valuables lying around the house
before escaping. According to the police statement given by Kapoor’s manager
Sunil Malhotra it was he [Malhotra] who first discovered the theft when he reached
their home around 9.30 am. Malhotra found that the main door was open and ‘I had come to India in search of the pot
everyone at home asleep. The statement says that Malhotra woke them up and aler-
ted them about the unlatched door. A while later, they realised that a few items of gold, only to find that that pot had been
had gone missing.
The police arrested the duo on a tip-off they received. Senior inspector
buried deep in my unconscious.’
Dilip Rupwate said that the accused have previous records of house-breaking in Vijay Mishra, Bollywood Cinema: Temples of Desire,
Versova and Oshiwara areas. They have been booked for theft and have been Routledge, New York and London, 2002, preface, p. 5.
remanded in police custody for three days.