How real is reel crime?

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">August, 2000:</span> Akshay Sundaram, after seeing <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Hera Pheri</span>, kidnaps himself to extract cash from his father to redeem a debt.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">January, 2004</span>: In Jaipur, candidates for AIIMS entrance test make use of a novel method of cheating inspired by <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Munna Bhai MBBS</span>.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">August 1992:</span> Nathaniel White of New York confesses to killing five women and one girl. The rampage began after he saw <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Robocop</span>.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">November 1992</span>: A 13-year-old boy in Kentucky evades arrest and injures several cops by booby-trapping his home <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Home Alone</span>-style.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Ramesh Sippy</span><br /></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -3"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="69.4%"> <colgroup> <col width="22.3%" /> <col width="77.3%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="22.3%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/520143.cms" alt="/photo/520143.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> <td width="77.3%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal">Bollywood films don’t inspire crime, no matter how similar the modus operandi followed by a particular criminal. <br />The criminal mind has its own ways of circumventing the law. One can’t stop making films or showing crime just because reel and real life might clash.</div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Rakesh Roshan</span><br /></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -3"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="69.4%"> <colgroup> <col width="22.3%" /> <col width="77.3%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="22.3%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/520144.cms" alt="/photo/520144.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> <td width="77.3%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal">Films don’t influence real life, it’s real life that influences films. <br />Cinema sets trends as far as looks, fashion and, perhaps, a certain style of language are concerned. <br />But it hardly has any bearing on crime or the manner in which it is committed.</div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""><formid=367815></formid=367815></span><br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Mahima Choudhary </span><br /></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -3"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="69.4%"> <colgroup> <col width="23.6%" /> <col width="76.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="23.6%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <br /></td> <td width="76.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal">Anything that one sees, hears and reads exerts an influence.<br />What bearing this influence has varies from individual to individual. <br />If certain individuals learn from the positive aspects of a film, there are others who imbibe something else.</div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Manoj Bajpai </span><br /></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -3"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="69.4%"> <colgroup> <col width="23.6%" /> <col width="76.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="23.6%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <br /></td> <td width="76.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal">It is fashionable to rubbish the film industry for societal ills. Film-makers have been toiling for ages to advocate change in society... has anything ever happened? <br />Why are we always looking at the worst of Bollywood?</div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="" font-style:="" italic="">nikita.doval@indiatimes.com</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""><formid=367815></formid=367815></span></div> </div>