High drama in real life

High drama in real life

It was a plot straight out of a Bollywood or Tollywood or Sandalwood potboiler – a daring heist carried out in broad daylight in the heart of town at Ashoka Pillar in Jayanagar on a busy weekday morning. An ATM van carrying cash from a bank was waylaid and robbed by men posing as RBI officials, to the tune of Rs 7.11 crore.

Culprits have been subsequently caught and the entire loot recovered, but the audacity of the criminals and the precision-planning with which they managed to execute their nefarious operation seems to be inspired by some movie thriller. They say all art imitates life. But this seems to be a case of life imitating art.

Still, it’s fascinating to think about what might have been going through the minds of the robbers who were obviously sharp enough to do it in the first place. And what a waste of human intelligence! If only those brains could have been put to better, more constructive use, they could have flourished in life instead of now languishing in jail.

Get-rich-quick schemes never work and crime doesn’t pay – either in films or in real life.

On a sadder note, Indian cinema recently lost one of its iconic actors Dharmendra – the original “he-man” of Bollywood, who breathed his last at the age of 89. Known for his action and romantic roles in Sholay, Seeta Aur Geeta, Yaadon Ki Baraat, Satyakaam, Dharam Veer, Chupke Chupke, amongst many others, he wowed audiences with his good looks and easy charm mainly in the 1960s and ’70s, though he continued to be seen in later films as well.

No one can escape the circle of life.

Or the long arm of the law.

Pullout

When brilliant minds lose the plot and go off-track…