<THREAD> In a quiz I made recently, and did at Roorkee and work, there aws this long, A to AA question based around the Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra case, so thought I'd tell that story here, too, because threads with fundaes are fun.
So, around 60 years back, Sylvia Nanavati, a Mumbai resident, tells her decorated naval officer husband, Kawas Nanavati, that she's had an affair with a flamboyant businessman called Prem Ahuja.
Mr. Nanavati marches down to Mr. Ahuja's house, finds him in a towel, just out from a bath. He whips out his service revolver and shoots him dead.
The story is, predictably, widely covered in the Mumbai tabloids.
The story is, predictably, widely covered in the Mumbai tabloids.
One widely-read tabloid, Blitz, takes a fierce stand supporting Mr. Nanavati, drawing parallels between the three and Ram-Sita-Raavan. It claimed it was Ram's dharma to slay the evil Raavan who abducted his innocent wife. (Wow)
Now, back in the sixties, India still had trial by jury (just like America - could it be why people could still connect to Ek Ruka Hua Faisla's plot in 1986?). And Blitz had hawkers right outside the courts screaming out their version of events.
With all the drama around this, the jury pool was inevitably contaminated. They delivered an 8-1 not guilty verdict, which appalled the prosecution. It was part of the reason jury trials were abolished the government a few years later.
Bollywood was fascinated by the story - and it's been adapted into movies thrice. We might all know the most recent version: Rustom in 2016.
Funnily, the lead character's name in Rustom is Rustom Pavri - which was also the name of the doctor Munnabhai takes lessons from (and whose father he played carrom with) in Munnabhai MBBS.
Munnabhai was played by Sanjay Dutt, of course, whose dad Sunil Dutt, made his debut as a producer in 1963 with the movie Ye Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke, which was based on... the Nanavati case!
Rustom and Ye Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke aren't the only ones, though - there was also Achanak, in 1973, based on the same case. It was directed by Gulzar, and was nominated for the Best Director Filmfare award, too!
The case wasn't just part of movies - it was even referenced in Midnight's Children, where Saleem Sinai helps a Commander Sabarmati find out his wife's having an affair. The Commander proceeds to kill both wife and lover (slight deviation from reality)
... and the story could've made its way to a fourth movie, too - one directed by Anurag Kashyap, no less! He wanted to make a trilogy of period movies set in Bombay - the first was Bombay Velvet, and the second was to be based on the Nanavati case.
But after Bombay Velvet bombed at the box office, he figured he might not get the budget to make more period movies. So he adapted the third movie he had in mind to a contemporary setting - that became Raman Raghav 2.0.
And so, there we are - 3 movies, 1 almost-movie and 1 multiple Booker-prize winning novel (not to mention numerous luminaries of Indian cinema and literature), all connected to one tragic triangle. </THREAD>
The inspiration for this question was this piece by Bachi Karkaria in Livemint: livemint.com/Leisure/OGsgT6…
Read quite a few more articles for zeroing in on the facts, but this one was the most poignant one of them all. Thanks, Internet, for saving them all! :D
Read quite a few more articles for zeroing in on the facts, but this one was the most poignant one of them all. Thanks, Internet, for saving them all! :D
