What's filmi about encounters?

"Filmi" is what everyone said on hearing of the

Kanpur encounter

. Encounters happen in secluded spaces, of course, out of our sight, but

cinema

has played out the episode of the encounter so often that it becomes an immediate reference point.

Encounter movies are based on

police

versions: Dilip Shukla, Dabangg writer
In encounters, there are no witnesses. Police's word is final. What we are seeing in Vikas Dubeys case, there are no witnesses, what police is saying is the final version. If a filmmaker tomorrow makes a film on Vikas Dubey, he'll make it based on the statement the police gives today. Whether what police is saying is right or wrong is something a filmmaker can't find out. When a film is based on a real incident, like 'Ab Tak Chhappan' and '

Shootout at Lokhandwala

', the police's version is what writers and directors have.

People texted me Friday morning saying 'yeh encounter toh aapki film

Bullett Raja

ke scene jaisa hai': Tigmanshu DhuliaI was really happy when I read that Vikas Dubey was arrested. Interestingly, I have information about UP criminals, but I never heard about Mr Dubey. When I read about the encounter on Friday morning, I found it amusing. I also got messages from three people saying, 'Yeh encounter toh aapki film 'Bullett Raja jaisa hai'. I was amused as there was a similar sequence in 'Bullett Raja', in which Saif Ali Khan's character is fleeing when police catches him in the fields, and then comes a twist. But this encounter was too similar to that scene. When I read about the encounter, I felt good that I thought of such a situation earlier in one of my films. This encounter is actually close to what we would imagine for our films.

We hear stories of UP encounters and

gangsters

and in films, we fictionalise it – we imagine and create scenes, and sometimes in life fiction becomes reality. It has happened with me often. In my first film, 'Haasil', I didn't mention the university or Allahabad in the film, but people knew it was based there. The situation of Allahabad University was not as bad as it was shown in the film, but after one year it reflected the film and it was shown on many TV channels what was happening in the film and what was happening at Allahabad University at that time.

Films that feature encounter episodes

Raees (2017): Raees, a local gangster, is unknowingly implicated in smuggling explosives that lead to serial blasts in the country and aware that he will be killed, Raees surrenders to the police. He is later taken to a deserted spot and killed in a staged encounter by police officer Majmudar.

Article 15 (2019): The Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer delves into the issue of caste divide. In the film, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub plays the role of a local youth leader, who is killed in a staged encounter for opposing a political alliance.

Ab Tak Chhappan (2004): Ab Tak Chhappan, inspired by real-life Mumbai police officer Daya Nayak, is the story of encounter specialist Sadhu, played by Nana Patekar. Responsible for handling the underworld, Sadhu holds the record of having killed 56 people in encounters.

Encounter: The Killing (2002): The film is about a police inspector, played by Naseeruddin Shah, who is trying to find the parents of a young mobster he accidentally killed during a chase.

Shootout At Lokhandwala (2007) : Shootout At Lokhandwala is based on the 1991 Lokhandwala Complex shootout, a real life gun battle between gangsters and Mumbai Police. In the film an ‘encounter squad’ is created to eliminate terrorists and gangsters.

Khakee (2003): Rajkumar Santoshi's Khakee is the story of a team of police officers who uncover a plot to frame an innocent man. At the end of the film, one of them stage an encounter to kill a former corrupt policeman who has gone rogue.

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