My mother and sister returned when only 8-10 minutes were left in the stipulated time of the serial. I told my mother the name of those kids and she recognized them instantly. That crime case was quite a notorious one. My mother too got a little curious as she knew very less about the case. The 20 minutes of the episode had been quite thrilling and I was quite eager to know what happened next. Though I knew inside what was coming, I didn't expect that portrayal to be so chilling. Those kids were tortured and then killed in cold blood. There wasn't a single expression of remorse on the faces of the killers as they dumped the bodies in the jungle. The episode ended with a manhunt being launched to trace the kids and the criminals fleeing the city.
As soon as credits rolled, my mother stood up and turned the TV off. She then told me in strict manner - not to watch the second episode of that case. Leave alone the next episode, she forbade me to watch even that serial again. I didn't feel anything then, but when I went to the bed the faces of those kids and criminals kept whirling in my mind. I couldn't sleep properly that night. My ordeal didn't end that night. It continued for few days. That episode and especially the final 10 minutes kept haunting me. It was only when my vacations were over and I got back to my daily routine did these things get off my mind.
Though it seems rather weird or a bit funny too that a 14 year old boy got scared so much by a reconstruction of a murder in a TV serial. But when I look back, I find a no. of reasons behind it.
1. Those siblings were of similar age to us (My sister and me) only difference being that I am elder. Those murders were committed almost a decade before I was born, a time when law and order situation wasn't grim like today. Coming to know about gruesome murders of those siblings in those times literally shook me. It was natural to sense a sort of creepiness inside considering the darker times we live in.
2. Sharpening the sense of insecurity inside me was the absence of our dad at home. It was the first time that he had to stay away from home and making only a day's visit every week(sometimes in a fortnight too). I had to take up the responsibilities of few works for the first time in my life. For few days, after watching 'Bhanwar', my mind would retelecast those scenes showing the little boy making a futile struggle with his murderer. Often I used to wonder what I would have done if something like this had happened to me, but never got a proper answer.
3. The reconstruction of the actual crime by the production house was indeed so realistic and hard hitting that even elders would get horrrified by looking at the cruelty and remorseless attitude in the crime. Years later when I browsed different pages via google regarding 'Bhanwar', I found a number of pages prasing the realistic approach adopted in this serial.
4. Mohan Gokhale was one another reason. Many people don't know him today. In fact, as I came to know later, He had passed away before the telecast of this episode. I had seen him in only comedy roles before, the most popular being 'Mr. Yogi'. Watching such an actor playing a rapist and muderer, and that too so convincingly, unsettled me. Again I was not alone in echoing these thoughts. Here's something I found in one other blog:-
It takes guts to play a sexually abusive character. I remember many years ago, the late Mohan Gokhale (remember him aeons ago on Doordarshan as Mr Yogi?) had played one of the infamous duo which had raped and killed the 2 children in Delhi? Gokhale was so terrifying in that episode of Sony's masterly recreation of real-life crimes Bhanwar that it never got telecast.
Almost a decade has passed since I had that whole week of uneasiness due to just a small episode of a serial. Things have gone much darker now and the bitter truth is there are far more sinister crimes being committed to the children (eg. Nithari killings). And there is no way to stop it. I reckon my fear of being insecure so many years back was not absurd afterall.
Finally commenting on that gruesome crime. We all have heard the names of the victims as well as the murderers a lot of times. The world of cinema kept the latter alive while the formers are remembered every year, in slightly different way. When next time you watch a 70's and 80's movie and listen to these names of the goons of villain or villain himself, then don't wonder where these names came from - RANGA and BILLA.
And don't forget to watch the 26th January parade because during this parade only you will get an opportunity to watch a bunch of brave children from all over India getting accolades and awards for their deeds. In that bunch of childrens, there will be a boy and a girl who will be given a special prize, in the memory of two siblings who lost their lives fighting with their murderes.
GEETA CHOPRA and SANJAY CHOPRA.
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