Mumbai edit: just laugh it off

The Mumbai police’s Kafkaesque reaction to a publicity gimmick by a film’s promoters ahead of its release would have been funny had it not been, in reality, distressing. The Mumbai police’s

Kafkaesque reaction to a publicity gimmick by a film’s promoters ahead of its release would have been funny had it not been, in reality, distressing. Here, briefly, is what happened:

producers of the film _Shootout at Wadala_, based on the first encounter killing of a gangster in Mumbai, sent out men dressed as constables with invites for the media purportedly from the

police commissioner’s office to a fictional seminar on rising crime in the city. This was enough for the thin-skinned Mumbai police to get all worked up and come down on the film’s producers

like the proverbial ton of bricks. The promoters have been charged under several sections of the Indian Penal Code and face up to seven years in jail. All this despite the summons-style

invite carrying a disclaimer saying it was purely for promotional purpose and the delivery men were dressed in police uniforms from the 1980s. This is the same police that was sitting on its

haunches till the Bombay high court ordered it to file an FIR in a corruption case against a leading city politician; which is under a cloud for passing off the informer of another police

force as a terror mastermind; which struggles to protect the city’s elders, children and women. This force, which cannot fulfil its basic duties and is losing the trust of the public, has

all the time and inclination to go after some filmmakers. This only proves that not only is the Mumbai police incompetent, complacent and corrupt, it also lacks a sense of humour. The film

industry and the public at large should unite in protesting against this silly behaviour of the police. If not, who knows, they may soon go and arrest for impersonation actors who play the

police commissioner.