The titular character of the Telugu crime drama Pushpa: The Rise is a ruggedly stylish sandalwood smuggler who wants to rise to the top of the pecking order. He has a striking gait which makes him walk with an arm raised slightly higher than usual. Allu Arjun, who plays Pushpa Raj in the film, said in interviews that it took him two years to get into the character and that he was continually beset with a sprained shoulder for most part of the preparation.
The Hindi dubbed version of the movie, now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, has been a surprise hit, with critics noting how it has worked well with Hindi audiences. So much so that three juveniles randomly killed a 24-year-old labourer in northwest Delhi's Jahangirpuri area after being inspired by the film. The cops also recovered a video clip of the murder; the youngsters had meant to upload it on Instagram in their bid to become famous as members of a gang they named ‘Badnaam’.
"All three apprehended revealed that they were very much influenced by the adventurous and glamorous lifestyle of big gangsters as shown in movies like Pushpa and Bhaukaal and wanted to imitate them. One of them even copied the looks and gait of one of the characters shown in Pushpa. Hence, they formed a gang namely ‘Badnaam gang’ and decided to kill a person to upload the videos on Instagram in order to become more famous on social media and influence others in their friends’ circle," said Usha Rangnani, DCP (North-West), in a press statement.
On January 19, the victim, identified as Shibu, was admitted to BJRM hospital with stab wounds in the abdomen; he later died of the injuries. According to the available CCTV footage, the three assailants reached K Block in Jahangirpuri where one of them started making a video and other two obstructed Shibu in a park. When he asked them why they were doing this, one of the accused started beating him with a danda, the other held him from behind and the third stabbed him with a dagger and fled the spot. "They are young, vulnerable minds. They got swayed by the movie and then planned all this. We are developing intelligence on other possible members of the gang. The three that we have caught are from a very poor economic background. They were addicted to drugs also. Even the victim was. One of the juveniles was imitating a character's hairstyle, voice and walking style from the film Pushpa," Rangnani told THE WEEK.
In another news, on January 21, the Delhi Police North District, in association with MXPlayer team, organised an online interactive session for a select group of 75 bravehearts of the Delhi Police to mark the release of the second part of popular crime drama Bhaukaal—the villains of the web series also inspired the delinquent minors in Jahangirpuri. Police personnel who had done exceptional work like nabbing robbers, or solving heinous cases, apart from helping out during the pandemic by donating blood/plasma to the needy, taking senior citizens or the specially-abled persons to hospital for vaccination, and arranged food, interacted with chief guest, actor Mohit Raina, who played the good cop in Bhaukaal.
"As the Bhaukal web series is inspired from the real life story of police personnel, hence North District police took the opportunity of official release of Bhaukal-2 to boost its field functionaries through a motivational interactive session with the main character of Bhaukal-2, Shri Mohit Raina," said a press statement from Delhi Police North District. Irony just died a million deaths.
