The world wide capturing of electronic data by a ransomware has been the highlight of the week. The hackers are getting more audacious and it appears that all forms of crime can be replicated digitally. The ransom of 300 Bitcoins for recovery of data indicates the large-scale operation that must have been carried out. Going by the ransom demand, this appears to be nothing but digital kidnapping !
As the joke goes, earlier it was ransom for returning the kidnapped बेटा and now it is for data !
Seriously though, kidnapping is a brutal crime. The trauma of the captured is unending. However, there have been documentation of cases exhibiting a psychological playoff at times, known as Stockholm Syndrome.
This is said to happen when the kidnapped person develops an affinity for the kidnapper, leading to sympathy and even love!
This is known to happen in real life and our Hindi films have also weaved such narratives in the script, from time to time. Some digging reveals that there have been many Hindi films covering this phenomenon.
The film Aan ( 1953) re-told the story of "Taming of the Shrew". Dilip Kumar the villager abducts Nadira, the princess and forces her to live the life of a peasant girl.The two eventually come closer and despite the chalk-and-cheese difference, love blooms, eventually.
The plot of a girl getting kidnapped and later on falling in love with the kidnapper was tried out in Mr.& Mrs. 55, a breezy film having a free-spirited versus bond-of-marriage debate as the backdrop. Lalita Pawar wants her daughter to be single. However, the property worth lakhs ( in those times !) could be owned only if Madhubala, the daughter, marries. So Pawar hires Guru Dutt to kidnap Madhubala, hold a sham marriage and then divorce her.
Cupid had other plans, with the captor and captive becoming Mr. and Mrs. 55
The next film that comes to mind is the dacoit saga of 1963: Mujhe Jeene Do. Sunil Dutt and Waheeda Rehman starred in this down-to-earth tale about dacoits, without glorifying them. The dreaded dacoit, played by Dutt abducts a courtesan Chameli ( played by Waheeda) and after a series of encounters, the captive nautch-girl comes around and they marry ( a scene in the film has Waheeda delivering the dialogue," who'll believe a dacoit married a tawaif" ). The music was excellent and this song was piece de resistance
Analysing the reasons of Stockholm's Syndrome is an interesting study. Psychologists opine that the attachment to one's captor may be due to many reasons.
It may be a show of sympathy outwardly but actually an act of self-preservation, for which the "affinity" is just a facade.
It is also possible that isolation from the world makes the hostage see the world from the eyes of the abductor and may actually empathise. If the captor shows even an iota of kindness ( even if it is perceived) , the captive person develops a feeling.
Finally, the kidnapper may succeed in persuading the kidnapped person to believe that his family or friends are not actually interesting in his welfare and the captive person turns against his/her own well-wishers.
Sometimes, it is true also !
Enough of analysis ! Back to the Hindi films showing Stockholm's Syndrome , now in the 70s.
The instances of heroine kidnapping hero are not known ( I'll be happy to be enlightened!), but a vamp capturing a hero was seen in Mere Jeevan Saathi ( 1972), when Helen takes Rajesh Khanna to her palace, as she was smitten by him. Khanna feigns love, as a tactic for self-preservation.and manages to escape.
The kidnapping incidents in the films were many, but very few would be applicable here.
In a sub-plot of the film Baarood ( 1976), Rishi Kapoor kidnaps Shoma Anand and keeps her in a boat, in the midst of the sea. The lady tries to seduce her way out , by singing a provocative, albeit melodious number.
The next notable instance of Stockholm Syndrome is seen in Hero, the Subhash Ghai film, where Jackie Shroff is the abductor and his prey Meenakshi Seshadri manages to fall in love with him.and eventually reforms him.
Interestingly, she gets kidnapped a second time, now by Amrish Puri, the bad man.The Stockholm Syndrome does not strike this time ( Hindi film hai bhai, hero aur villain mein farq to hoga !)
There are films showing a similar narrative but the love blossoms too quickly to qualify for the Syndrome. In the film Betaab, Sunny Deol forcibly takes Amrita Singh to his farm. Not too long after this, thanks to a rainy night and a duet, they realise they were friends as children and lovers now !
Gulzar made a statement on corruption in his film Hu Tu Tu ( 1999), but it had a sub-plot of Tabu getting abducted by Sunil Shetty. The two had known each other earlier and once she realises the atrocities committed by her mother (who is the Chief Minister), she moves over to the side of the revolutionaries, against establishment.
Capture-bonding is another name given to this phenomenon. The statistics show that about one-fourth of all persons subjected to abduction develop this complicated emotion, which can be very dangerous long after they have come out of captivity. Why some people develop these feelings and others don't, is not known. Suffice to say that it is the ultimate survival mechanism, which takes a lot of time and intensive care to get healed.
Of course, in films the emphasis being on love and songs/dances, the treatment of the phenomenon is rarely done with sensitivity. Something of this kind happened in the Salman Khan- Bhumika Chawla starrer Tere Naam ( 2002), which tells the story of a goon falling in love with a timid girl, abducting her and in due course , she reciprocates. Despite the film being quite regressive, the audiences lapped it up, partly due to Salman craze and partly due to acculturation, over the years.
Sad, to say the least !
Over the last decade and a half there have been more than half a dozen films featuring Stockholm Syndrome in different manners.
Kaabul Express (2006) is about journalists John Abraham and Arshad Warsi in post-Taliban Afghanistan. They sympathise and even help their kidnapper who is a Pakistani posing as Taliban.
The film Kidnap ( 2008) told the story of Imran Khan kidnapping Minissha Lamba, in order to take a revenge from her father Sanjay Dutt. While in captivity, she realises that he is a wronged man and his actions are out of frustration. She does not escape even when she gets a chance.
In Raavan(2010) Abhishek Bachchan kidnaps Aishwarya, a married woman , who sympathises with him, once she realises that the he had kidnapped to avenge the death of his sister. The story of Ramayana, with a twist.
Tere Naal Love Hogaya (2012) was a romantic comedy in which Genelia D'Souza forces Ritesh Deshmukh to kidnap her, in order to avoid getting married forcibly. She starts to love him soon after.
Hero ( 2015) was a remake of the earlier film, starring Suraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty.
Two films , however, rose above the mundane to showcase the Syndrome with sensitivity.
Pinjar (2003) was the story set in times of Partition where Urmila Matondkar, playing a married woman, is abducted by Manoj Bajpayee due to their clans being at war since times immemorial. However, when she escapes and goes back to her house , she is not welcome and returns to Bajpayee. An uneasy marriage takes place and the bond gets stronger as both of them strive to help her sister-in-law cross over to Lahore.
Highway ( 2014) was a classic case of weaving a story around Stockholm Syndrome. Alia Bhatt, just before her wedding, is kidnapped by Randeep Hooda. The constant proximity between them and the horrors of their childhood bond them, both seeking refuge from the harsh realities of life. The story was successful in depicting the mental state of the hostage vividly and how individual emotional baggage affects the turn of events.
It appears that for such instances the lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri had penned the songतेरी ज़ुल्फ़ों से, जुदाई तो नहीं मांगी थी /
क़ैद मांगी थी, रिहाई तो नहीं मांगी थी //
As the joke goes, earlier it was ransom for returning the kidnapped बेटा and now it is for data !
Seriously though, kidnapping is a brutal crime. The trauma of the captured is unending. However, there have been documentation of cases exhibiting a psychological playoff at times, known as Stockholm Syndrome.
This is said to happen when the kidnapped person develops an affinity for the kidnapper, leading to sympathy and even love!
This is known to happen in real life and our Hindi films have also weaved such narratives in the script, from time to time. Some digging reveals that there have been many Hindi films covering this phenomenon.
The film Aan ( 1953) re-told the story of "Taming of the Shrew". Dilip Kumar the villager abducts Nadira, the princess and forces her to live the life of a peasant girl.The two eventually come closer and despite the chalk-and-cheese difference, love blooms, eventually.
The plot of a girl getting kidnapped and later on falling in love with the kidnapper was tried out in Mr.& Mrs. 55, a breezy film having a free-spirited versus bond-of-marriage debate as the backdrop. Lalita Pawar wants her daughter to be single. However, the property worth lakhs ( in those times !) could be owned only if Madhubala, the daughter, marries. So Pawar hires Guru Dutt to kidnap Madhubala, hold a sham marriage and then divorce her.
Cupid had other plans, with the captor and captive becoming Mr. and Mrs. 55
The next film that comes to mind is the dacoit saga of 1963: Mujhe Jeene Do. Sunil Dutt and Waheeda Rehman starred in this down-to-earth tale about dacoits, without glorifying them. The dreaded dacoit, played by Dutt abducts a courtesan Chameli ( played by Waheeda) and after a series of encounters, the captive nautch-girl comes around and they marry ( a scene in the film has Waheeda delivering the dialogue," who'll believe a dacoit married a tawaif" ). The music was excellent and this song was piece de resistance
Analysing the reasons of Stockholm's Syndrome is an interesting study. Psychologists opine that the attachment to one's captor may be due to many reasons.
It may be a show of sympathy outwardly but actually an act of self-preservation, for which the "affinity" is just a facade.
It is also possible that isolation from the world makes the hostage see the world from the eyes of the abductor and may actually empathise. If the captor shows even an iota of kindness ( even if it is perceived) , the captive person develops a feeling.
Finally, the kidnapper may succeed in persuading the kidnapped person to believe that his family or friends are not actually interesting in his welfare and the captive person turns against his/her own well-wishers.
Sometimes, it is true also !
Enough of analysis ! Back to the Hindi films showing Stockholm's Syndrome , now in the 70s.
The instances of heroine kidnapping hero are not known ( I'll be happy to be enlightened!), but a vamp capturing a hero was seen in Mere Jeevan Saathi ( 1972), when Helen takes Rajesh Khanna to her palace, as she was smitten by him. Khanna feigns love, as a tactic for self-preservation.and manages to escape.
The kidnapping incidents in the films were many, but very few would be applicable here.
In a sub-plot of the film Baarood ( 1976), Rishi Kapoor kidnaps Shoma Anand and keeps her in a boat, in the midst of the sea. The lady tries to seduce her way out , by singing a provocative, albeit melodious number.
The next notable instance of Stockholm Syndrome is seen in Hero, the Subhash Ghai film, where Jackie Shroff is the abductor and his prey Meenakshi Seshadri manages to fall in love with him.and eventually reforms him.
Interestingly, she gets kidnapped a second time, now by Amrish Puri, the bad man.The Stockholm Syndrome does not strike this time ( Hindi film hai bhai, hero aur villain mein farq to hoga !)
There are films showing a similar narrative but the love blossoms too quickly to qualify for the Syndrome. In the film Betaab, Sunny Deol forcibly takes Amrita Singh to his farm. Not too long after this, thanks to a rainy night and a duet, they realise they were friends as children and lovers now !
Gulzar made a statement on corruption in his film Hu Tu Tu ( 1999), but it had a sub-plot of Tabu getting abducted by Sunil Shetty. The two had known each other earlier and once she realises the atrocities committed by her mother (who is the Chief Minister), she moves over to the side of the revolutionaries, against establishment.
Of course, in films the emphasis being on love and songs/dances, the treatment of the phenomenon is rarely done with sensitivity. Something of this kind happened in the Salman Khan- Bhumika Chawla starrer Tere Naam ( 2002), which tells the story of a goon falling in love with a timid girl, abducting her and in due course , she reciprocates. Despite the film being quite regressive, the audiences lapped it up, partly due to Salman craze and partly due to acculturation, over the years.
Sad, to say the least !
Over the last decade and a half there have been more than half a dozen films featuring Stockholm Syndrome in different manners.
Kaabul Express (2006) is about journalists John Abraham and Arshad Warsi in post-Taliban Afghanistan. They sympathise and even help their kidnapper who is a Pakistani posing as Taliban.
The film Kidnap ( 2008) told the story of Imran Khan kidnapping Minissha Lamba, in order to take a revenge from her father Sanjay Dutt. While in captivity, she realises that he is a wronged man and his actions are out of frustration. She does not escape even when she gets a chance.
In Raavan(2010) Abhishek Bachchan kidnaps Aishwarya, a married woman , who sympathises with him, once she realises that the he had kidnapped to avenge the death of his sister. The story of Ramayana, with a twist.
Tere Naal Love Hogaya (2012) was a romantic comedy in which Genelia D'Souza forces Ritesh Deshmukh to kidnap her, in order to avoid getting married forcibly. She starts to love him soon after.
Hero ( 2015) was a remake of the earlier film, starring Suraj Pancholi and Athiya Shetty.
Two films , however, rose above the mundane to showcase the Syndrome with sensitivity.
Pinjar (2003) was the story set in times of Partition where Urmila Matondkar, playing a married woman, is abducted by Manoj Bajpayee due to their clans being at war since times immemorial. However, when she escapes and goes back to her house , she is not welcome and returns to Bajpayee. An uneasy marriage takes place and the bond gets stronger as both of them strive to help her sister-in-law cross over to Lahore.
Highway ( 2014) was a classic case of weaving a story around Stockholm Syndrome. Alia Bhatt, just before her wedding, is kidnapped by Randeep Hooda. The constant proximity between them and the horrors of their childhood bond them, both seeking refuge from the harsh realities of life. The story was successful in depicting the mental state of the hostage vividly and how individual emotional baggage affects the turn of events.
It appears that for such instances the lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri had penned the songतेरी ज़ुल्फ़ों से, जुदाई तो नहीं मांगी थी /
क़ैद मांगी थी, रिहाई तो नहीं मांगी थी //
2 comments:
A few more films, which come to mind immediately 1- Apaharan- Ajay Devgan- Bipasha Basu[ Prakash Jha film ] , Blackmail-2005- Ajay Devgan Suneil Shetty- Priyanka Chopra and last but not the least is ' Phaas gaye re Obama- 2010- Rajat Kapoor- Neha Dhupia- Amol Gupte
What a great research...hats off
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