“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
Rachana Dubey, Niharika Lal and Divya Kaushik (BOMBAY TIMES; July 11, 2020)

WE HAVE CREATED A FORMULA FOR SHOOTOUT FILMS — CLOSE TO FACTS WITH CINEMATIC LIBERTIES: SANJAY GUPTA
Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta, who has helmed Shootout At Wadala and written Shootout At Lokhandwala, says, “In my entire career, I don’t think I have come across a single genuine encounter. What has happened recently is ludicrous. There are so many loopholes in the story. The Lokhandwala encounter (on which the movie Shootout At Lokhandwala was based) had witnesses, but what happened on the staircase and inside the house, no one saw. We have created a formula, at least, for the Shootout films — a true, shocking story, as close to facts as possible with cinematic liberties. That’s what makes them stand out. It is non-fiction, but has the star cast and the trappings of a masala film and it takes a stand on the right and wrong.

While making a film, once we have the story in place, we start talking to survivors, witnesses and people who were connected with, let’s say, an incident, including the journalist who has reported stories around it. Author S Hussain Zaidi was a great reference for Shootout At Wadala. For Shootout At Lokhandwala, we had A A Khan (former IPS officer) and a lot of the witnesses from the building. Now, talking about the Vikas Dubey encounter, it will lend itself one hundred per cent to a movie and I have no doubt about that.”



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 Dubey’s 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 the 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 DHULIA
Tigmanshu Dhulia, who has directed films like Bullett Raja and the Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster franchise, says, “I 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 fictionalize 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. It was shown on many TV channels what was happening in the film and what was happening at Allahabad University at that time.”
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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.


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.


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.