Without directly taking names of the gangsters involved in betting, hawala or fixing of cricket matches; film-makers have effectively drawn parallels on celluloid, recreated the images and creatively narrated these cases. The recently released trailer of Milan Lutharia's Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Again, introduced the character Shoaib Khan essayed by Akshay Kumar entering the cricket stadium as an important match between India and Pakistan takes place in Sharjah.
The film is inspired by fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, and his passion to watch cricket matches has been captured in the film, to highlight his alleged involvement in cricket and dropping hints at betting, but the plot is fictional.
A scene in the film shows the don as he gets out of a plush car, enters the stadium and gives a signal for the toss to take place.
"D-Company is still one of the most romantic enigmas for Bollywood. The audiences enjoy watching gangster stories or their involvement in various crimes because there is a certain amount of mystery about them. This is the reason that it has fast emerged as a favourite formula," says trade analyst Komal Nahta. "Since there have been several films made on gangsters, film makers need to have fresh scripts inspired by the recent developments, with which the audience can relate more," he adds.
Jannat produced by Mahesh Bhatt's Vishesh Films, had Emraan Hashmi playing a bookie. It was the first film to have explicitly narrated the betting and match - fixing on international fields. The film had unfolded the match- fixing drama and had reference to cricket coach Bob Woolmer's mysterious death. Bhatt had denied any link or inspiration from cricket scandals but agreed that the film was aimed at showing murkier side of the most-loved sport. "The film is reflective of the times we live in. It points out that everybody exploits this deity called cricket," Bhatt had said.
Krishna D K and Raj Nidimoru's film 99 was a satirical take on betting as it had several cricket controversies in the backdrop. The film which was released in 2009 starred Kunal Khemu as a cricketer always failing to make a century at the stadium, and had presented some real incidents from the India-South Africa betting scandal in 1999. The Aamir Khan starrer Ghulam directed by Vikram Bhatt had made an indirect reference of involvement of cricketers in match fixing.
Habib Faisal realistically portrayed how the greed to earn a quick buck leads a teenage boy into the world of betting in his film Do Dooni Chaar. "Gangsters and crime have been part of Bollywood since long but now that the people get to see the day-to-day updates on TV, they throng to watch films with strong narrative on these subjects," Nahta says. The world of match-fixing, hawala money and D-Company has often made for a heady cocktail for Bollywood movies
Jannat
About:It revolved around Emraan Hashmi's greed which makes him enter the world of betting and finally getting killed in a police encounter. The film had also drawn a parallel with the mysterious death of cricket coach Bob Woolmer.
Yalgaar
About: Feroze Khan presented the glorified life of a dreaded don played by Kabir Bedi, who plans to flee the country and settle down in Dubai. Few unnamed characters in the backdrop were shown to be transacting dealings through hawala from India to West Asia. This was the first time hawala was mentioned openly in Bollywood.
99
About: The film compiled several cricket controversies in the backdrop. Starring Kunal Khemu as a cricketer always failing to make a century at the stadium, the film had presented some real incidents surrounding the India-South Africa betting scandal of 1999.
Ghulam
About: Aamir Khan, who played a small-time henchman in the film, was shown to be bullying sportsmen into betting. In one of the scenes, he was shown hitting a cricketer black and blue for refusing to fix a match.
Once Upon Atime In Mumbaai Again
About: The film is loosely inspired by the rise of Dawood Ibrahim in the crime world of the 90s. To avoid controversy, the film- makers have given it a fictional twist and have named the lead character as Shoaib Khan. Dawood was known to go to a stadium, especially to watch an India- Pakistan match. This has been shown in the film.
Do Dooni Chaar
About: The subplot of the film had Rishi Kapoor's teenage son erroneously straying into the notorious world of betting.
0 comments:
Post a Comment