Dial M for murder, movies

 In 1994, when ‘Natural Born Killers’ was released, the director Oliver Stone would not have imagined that he had just made a movie that was going to make history. Not at the box office, but in the world of copycat crime.

 It is renowned that the film inspired that most number of separate copycat killings.  And, the latest being of the ‘fake joker’, who killed 14 people during the premiere of Dark Knight Rises in Colorado.

 Similarly, when Director Srinivasa Raju decided to make ‘Dandupalya’, he would never have imagined that the movie would also inspire copycat killing.

 The murder of an SSLC student in Sarjapura conspired by four youngsters was carried out in a manner portrayed in the Kannada film, ‘Dandupalya’. The series of similar kind of incidents have evoked a debate among various sections of people and it is not a comfortable trend.

 This has also raised concern about the psychology of the criminals as well as their inability to differentiate between fiction and real life.

 The Joint Commissioner of Crime, East, Dayanand says, “On many occasions when we interrogate the criminals on how they arrived at the idea and the plan, they confess on being influenced by movies, which they also improvise to some extent.

” On the remedy to this menace, he said, “If not movies, they will be inspired by something else.  We cannot ban filmmakers from exploring their creative instinct, but we can definitely bring some sort of censorship.

” It is very difficult to understand the psychological impact of the violence that is showcased in our movies on individuals.

 Psychiatrist Dr Shyam Bhatt says, “The affect of media and movies on people is indeed a big controversy in the world of psychology. Many children tend to get aggressive when they are exposed to violent movies.

 However, everyone is not necessarily affected. There are many people who have also watched the movie Dandupalya, but not all were inspired and took to arms.

 Hence, individuals who get influence by such movies are people who might have already undergone a lot of aggression and violence in their real life and in such cases media plays the role of a catalyst.

 Sometimes there may be some genetic issues, a feeling of oppression and anguish in their life which might have instigated them to act in the way portrayed in movies.

” He further added, “A lot of violence from the childhood may lead to biological changes and at the same time every person have different sensibilities pertaining to the same topic.

 For instance, a person who is used to watching violent movies regularly will not be affected by the scenes; however, a person who is not used to it will be affected to a large extent.

REAL-LIFE INCIDENTS INSPIRED BY REEL LIFE

■ A robbery was committed in the South Malabar Gramin Bank, at Chelambra in Kerala, by a group of four gangsters inspired by the movie Dhoom released in 2007.

 They robbed all the valuables including 80 kilos of solid gold and cash value of `25,00,000.

 ■ On February this year, a 15-year-old school boy in Chennai stabbed his teacher in order to take revenge, infl uenced by Hrithik’s character in ‘Agneepath’.

 ■ On April this year, a 15-year-old youngster was abducted in Pune by three of his classmates and was killed brutally by slitting his throat.  They plotted the kidnapping of their classmate and took him 25 kms outside the city.  They demanded a ransom of `50,000 from the victim’s father.

 Later his dead body was found. Apparently, the boys were inspired by the TV serial, CID We also have a category of ill people in our society suffering from what is called ‘pre-existing psychological disorder’, in other words, psychopaths.

 They lack empathy of any kind and can be provoked by anything and tend to use violence.

” The rising trend among youths to adopt the ways and mannerisms in films has raised questions among filmmakers, who are blamed by the moral police for motivating ordinary people to commit crime.

 Director AMR Ramesh who has films like Cyanide and now Attahasa to his credit, says, “I don’t exactly know as to what went through the mind of the youths to have committed such a crime after watching a film like Dandupalya.

 So many good things are being conveyed through so many films.  We have films made on Mahatma Gandhi and on Gods.  If people had got inspired by such movies, we would have seen so many Gandhis’ and so many preachers of Gods.

 Why is it that people have not followed such kind of movies? Commoners getting motivated by crime is baseless as they can be provoked with any kind of scenes.

” Today, a lot of TV channels showcase crime through different episodes and they have every right to express themselves through their work, says Ramesh.

 “Fingers cannot be only pointed at certain directors who want to experiment with different kind of films, given that the vast majority of the people are only being alerted and awareness is being created,” he adds.

 Time and again, the debate surrounding the role of censorship has put the members of the board in a dilemma.

 Nagaraj, the regional censor board member points out, “Today we see heroes holding long weapons and glorifying the rebel act.

 So films like Dandupalya, which is based on real life incidents is totally justified.

 Such films only create awareness and alert people about the various incidents which happened in the society. ” He added, “ In a democratic set up, an adult certification is given at the board level to such kind of movies. This gives liberty to filmmakers who want to experiment with scripts based on real life incidents.

 Even when we censor such films, we make several cuts, keeping the public in mind.  Only unstable minds can get influenced and commit gruesome crimes.

” On the other hand, expressing his frustration and anger, director of the movie Danduplaya, Srinivasa Raju says, “It is sad that a few youths have committed a murder on the pretext of a movie like Dandupalya.

 The movie was meant to create awareness and I just showcased an incident that took place a decade ago.

” Stressing on the positive side, he said, “In fact, so many women have thanked me for creating awareness through the movie.

” (With inputs from A Sharadhaa)