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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, November 22: Guess who is starring in the next Shahrukh Khan-Juhi Chawla blockbuster? India’s very own crime buster, the Most Wanted’ man Suhaib Ilyasi. And no, he hasn’t fallen for the lucre that Bollywood promises and neither has he finally surrendered to the numerous threats to his life. Ilyasi promises the move is totally in line with his crime-fighting’ capactities and he is not vying with the Khan for attention.
Picture this: Shah Rukh and Juhi are gung-ho reporters (as if Bollywood has known any other types). Somehow, their liaison with a politician lands them in a hot soup and they are on the run. Enter — the man who is instrumental in catching some of the big names in the criminal world — Suhaib Ilyasi as Suhaib Ilyasi.
“Shah Rukh approached me to act in Dil Hai Phir bhi Hindustani, and it is really not like I am acting ’cause I just play myself,” he said of the movie which is due out in January. “It was a good thing to do as it gave publicity to the kind of work that I do.”
But you don’t really need more publicity, do you Mr Ilyasi? He blushes as he says that it helps if more people know about their efforts. Ilyasi is quick to reject any intentions of commercial viability: “If I just wanted to make money, I would have done something like Shekhar Suman!” He is quick to qualify this, saying that their objectives are quite different.
After all, he says, who would live everyday with a threat hanging over his head if it wasn’t for a larger guiding belief, which for him, is patriotic. “It happens all the time, you have politicians making sugar-coated threats to prevent your work,” he said. Ilyasi’s demeanour does not tell you that he is much too worried about that. But, he “of course, can’t just go shopping with my wife and daughter.”
Ilyasi knows he has a long way to go as he looks at certain cases. For instance, his show featuring Pappu Yadav, the MP from Madhya Pradesh, led to Yadav’s arrest. But Yadav won the elections when he contested from behind the bars. “Maybe, now that it (the programme) is on DD, things will be different,” he said wistfully.
For now, all Ilyas is hoping for is increased cooperation with police and success with another labour of love — a magazine based along the same lines. “It is for things which I cannot say on TV, due to various reasons,” he said. Can’t wait.
