While viewers of news channels were dismayed at UP police's ineptitude watching the heroic antics of dacoit, Ghanshyam Kevat who single-handedly fought a strong horde of 400 Uttar Pradesh policemen for over 52 hours, film-maker Anil Sharma couldn't stop smiling viewing the clips of the prolonged encounter between the cops and the lone dacoit.
Anil Sharma, producer and director of B-grade potboilers like The Hero-Love Story of a Spy, Gaddar-Ek Love Story, Hogi Love ki Victory, Declaration-E-War and Hukumat feels that he and Bollywood in general - often lampooned for unrealistic depiction of action sequences - stands vindicated.
"This dacoit has now provided us proof that it's possible for a single person to take on hundreds simultaneously. Bollywood stands vindicated." said Sharma with a chuckle.
Pointing his finger towards the television screen when the footage of the two day long battle was being shown, Sharma said excitedly, "Look how he jumped from one roof to another dodging several bullet shots fired at him. Yeh toh paisa vasool entertainment hai. But when I show such stunts in my movies, critics laugh at me and call my masterpieces B-grade masala movies."
Anil Sharma doesn't look down disparagingly at Ghanshyam Kewat as a lowly dacoit, but considers him a hero. "He's the stuff heroes are made of. Unfortunately in our country, there are not enough decent employment opportunities with good pay for people like him. I don't blame him for becoming a dacoit. Why would a hero capable of battling an army all by himself join the police force for a measly few thousand rupees a month, where he would be forced to do degrading stuff like VIP duty and bow to politicians?"
Meanwhile, according to our sources, UP's DGP Vikram Verma, under flak for mishandling the encounter is miffed at the criticism and scorn directed towards his police force for their gross ineptitude in dealing with a lone dacoit. He has been heard complaining about media's bias in reporting the encounter.
"If this dreaded criminal was not just a dacoit, but a terrorist from Pakistan holed up in a 5-star hotel and holding up against us for 4 days, we would have been treated like war heroes who had rescued the nation from a foreign attack. Pretty young things would have come up to us, expressed their gratitude and given us flowers. Sachin Tendulkar would have felt honored meeting us. Those who are glorifying this dacoit as a hero for his ability to hold out against 400 cops for two days, do they have the guts to treat the terrorists who managed to hold the entire city of Mumbai to ransom for four days as heroes too?" asked the DGP, off the record, to some of the reporters after the press-conference was over.
