Rohit Arya and (R) a shot from the film 'A Thursday'
Credit: X and IMDB
Mumbai: The Powai hostage crisis of Thursday bore resemblance to the Hindi film 'A Thursday'.
The 2022 film had a star cast of Yami Gautam, Atul Kulkarni, Neha Dhupia, Dimple Kapadia and Karanvir Sharma. It was written and directed by Behzad Khambata and produced by Ronnie Screwvala.
In the film, Gautam plays a schoolteacher named Naina Jaiswal, who takes 16 students hostage with her demands centred around the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) law. The main character makes a series of demands to the government. This, at first, appears like a regular hostage situation, but it later turns out that she has a deeper personal and social reason tied to seeking justice.
“The Powai incident bears many similarities to Yami Gautami’s film 'A Thursday', in which she plays the role of a schoolteacher who holds several children hostage to speak to officials, including the Prime Minister, played by Dimple Kapadia. Yami’s character happens to be a rape survivor in the film, which is revealed later on,” said advocate Nitin Satpute.
On Thursday, 50-year-old Rohit Arya took 19 people, including 17 children, hostage in a studio at Powai and wanted to place his demands before former School Education Minister and Shiv Sena leader Deepak Kesarkar.
He, however, succumbed to the gunshot injuries he sustained during the rescue operation launched by the police.