A Wednesday Style Similarity in Mumbai School Kids Hostage Situation

Mumbai News: 20 children were held hostage in the Powai neighbourhood of India's financial capital. In a rapid response to the intense standoff, the Mumbai police rescued all 20 children and even detained the accused, Rohit Arya. As per sources, the accused kept children hostage for several minutes before the Mumbai police opened fire and disarmed him. Arya, who is also a YouTuber, lured the children to the RA studio under the pretext of a web series audition. The hostage keeping kidnapper was shot dead by the Mumbai police. 

Mumbai kidnapper Rohit Arya's video message bears similarity with Naseeruddin Shah's ‘a stupid common man’ scene from A Wednesday 

The daylight kidnapping of the young school students jolted everyone. Soon after videos of the trapped children emerged, the accused Rohit Arya released a clip on social media stating his demands. In his first message, he stressed that he has questions that need to be answered and requires to have a conversation with the ‘concerned people’. He made it clear that he has not taken the hostage for the greed for money, and neither is he a terrorist. He claimed his demands are ‘moral and ethical’.

In the video message, he said, “I want simple conversations, and that's why I've taken these children hostage. I've held them hostage as part of a plan. If I live, I'll do it; if I die, someone else will, but it will definitely happen because the slightest wrong move from you will trigger me to set this whole place on fire and die in it.” According to the police, Rohit Arya claimed that he wanted to speak with certain people and threatened to set everything on fire and harm himself along with the children if his demand was not met. The police officials said that the man appeared to be ‘mentally unstable’.

His ‘simple conversation' demand is similar to the climax of the 2018 film, A Wednesday. In the pivotal scene, the antagonist Naseeruddin Shah has a final standoff with the Commissioner of Mumbai Police, Anupam Kher, coming clean about his crimes and stating the motives behind the same. When asked who he is, Shah simply replies he is ‘a common man', who had to take matters into his own hands when the officials failed to take swift action. The character further says that he is just carrying out his duties as a ‘common man’ and cleaning his house by avenging the terrorist attacks in various cities, especially the 2006 Mumbai train bombings. In the scene, Shah's character acknowledges that his method of seeking revenge and justice was wrong.

Also Read: BREAKING: Man Releases Video After Taking 20 Kids As Hostages 

As per ANI, the police confirmed that all 20 children held hostage in the Powai school kidnapping were rescued safely and handed over to their guardians. The accused, Rohit Arya, has been detained and is being questioned to determine the reason behind his actions and to assess his mental condition. He breathed his last in the hospital after being shot dead by the Mumbai police. 

UPDATE: Please note that this story has been edited to reflect updates. L&T clarified that the said incident was not related to the AM Naik School referred to as LNT School in an earlier version of the report. The statement affirmed that the school, its staff, and students were not involved in the incident in any way. One of their school buses was returning empty after dropping students home, which was then used in the rescue process to shift the traumatized children to the nearest hospital. L&T stated that they are happy that their school bus could be of some help to the children at this difficult time.