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Most Undaunted

Week after week we see him on television. Self-righteous, angry, determined to put up a brave fight against crime on India’s Most wanted on Zee lately re-christened and re-located as Fugitive: The Most Wanted on Doordarshan. In person, Delhi-based Suhaib Ilyasi is so softspoken you wonder where he found the guts to take on hardened criminals by challenging their right to freedom on television. A pioneer in the field of crime-watch serials Ilyasi enjoys the idea of being useful to a social order which doesn’t seem to know or care about what’s right or wrong.

Did you ever think that India’s Most Wanted would become so hugely popular?
Let me tell you, for the initial six episodes we were highly confident ke han bhai pakdaa jayega criminal. Lekin usske baad thoda sa dheela pad gaaya. Nothing seemed to be happening and even Zee lost confidence, Zee had accepted my proposal for India’s Most Wanted only on a trial basis.

They felt the channel was becoming the brunt of jokes. Information about criminals was being telecast, but none was apprehended. Everyone commented in the press about the loudness and the ineffectuality of presentation. My style of anchoring was also criticised.

Did you anticipate such resounding success for India’s Most Wanted?
I had never anticipated that I’d have to face the camera myself. I became the anchor on my India’s Most Wanted quite by chance. We had problems with the person who was doing it earlier. He had security problems and his family was worried about his safety. I asked many professional anchors to take over the show. They said, ‘You’ve nothing to worry about, Tum to camera ke peeche ho. There is no way we can challenge criminals so openly.’

You’ve mentioned that the police passes on information to criminals about forthcoming episodes. Could you elaborate?
It isn’t true of everyone. But there have been cases when members of the police force have tipped criminals when we were working on stories about them. You’d be surprised to know that the much-maligned Uttar Pradesh Police have been most co-operative. I’d have thought that the Delhi police, being part of the Capital, would be the best in the country. But I find the police force in Uttar Pradesh to be far more efficient.

Can you give me an example?
Recently we did an expose on a hardcore criminal named Hemu Gujjar. This sahib’s photograph vanished from the relevant police station in Delhi. It’s a pity, but the Delhi police doesn’t have a photograph of the Capital’s most wanted criminal! Fortunately we had the photograph. But imagine this man’s influence over the Delhi police. He got his photograph removed!

In your experience would you say politicians are hand-in-glove with criminals?
Yes, of course. Crime wouldn’t have been so rampant in our country if our politicians loved their country. We have hard evidence indicating a nexus between crime and politics. I receive calls from a politician claiming to be close to certain politicians and requesting me not to do my stories on particular criminals. I tell them I’m doing my job. I threaten to name the persons making these calls, on my programme. This has happened thrice. Thrice I’ve been warned by people with political connections to lay off certain criminals for my family’s welfare.

Have you ever been forced to drop any episode on any criminal?
Yes, there were instances when we weren’t allowed to go on air on Zee with information on certain individuals. Godman Chandraswamy was one of them. Then I had some exclusive and revealing information on Irfan Husain, the journalist from Outlook who was murdered. Then there was Shivani the journalist from Indian Express who was murdered. I had information that some really important people were involved with her murder. That episode too wasn’t allowed to be telecast.

Finally, there was a programme on Raghunath Pratap Singh, a minister from Uttar Pradesh. That too wasn’t permitted transmission. I felt frustrated by these instances. Knowing that anything can happen to me anytime, I’m still doing such stories.

Has the government provided you with security?
Yes, they have. Plus I’ve arranged for my own security service as well. Fortunately my family is supportive. Without them it would have been impossible for me to go on. When I produced an episode on Uttar Pradesh’s most wanted criminal Brajesh Singh — who’s still absconding — my wife said, Zindabad, Suhaib. Mazaa aa gaya. That’s the most life-threatening episode I had ever filmed. There are many restrictions on my family’s movements and social life. I’ve sacrificed a lot due to security reasons as well as lack of time. I don’t want any member of my family to come to harm because of me. I would never be able to forgive myself. I don’t mind paying for my own actions. But I don’t want my family to suffer for my sake.

But you have the support and good wishes of every right-thinking Indian.
True. India’s Most Wanted became successful because of this support. I’ve received so much love and encouragement from everyone. Even if I’ve to die for the country I’d happily do so. Even if the State has refused to acknowledge my efforts the people have done so. After all, the State is its people. Subhash Chandra Bose has always been my role model. I’ve imbibed the spirit of sacrifice from him. To die for one’s country is quite acceptable to me.

One charge levelled against India’s Most Wanted is that the dramatic recreation of real-life crimes are amateurish and sloppy.
Opinions vary on this. Some people find the drama to be competent. The common man finds the drama to be very real. The raw quality of dramatization is on purpose. These are not enacted by experienced artistes. The actors and locations are selected according to suitability. If I have my actors wearing jazzy clothes and posing in elaborate studio sets then the real-life crime would look filmi.

Are you flattered by the large number of India’s Most Wanted spinoffs on television?
It’s a great feeling to see that our programme has worked and people have recognised it, even on Movers & Shakers. I was invited to Shekhar Suman’s show although Zee and Sony are competitive channels. I told Shekhar Suman it was very magnanimous of him to recognise India’s Most Wanted on his show, albeit in satirical form.

He said channel-rivalry is one thing, and all the good work being done by India’s Most Wanted is quite another. I felt really good.

Why did you shift your programme from Zee to Doordarshan?
This happened because of the cases when my episodes were stopped which I talked about earlier. There was an attitudinal change at Zee after the channel underwent some change in management. The new management felt it wasn’t to the channel’s advantage to telecast episodes on those particular criminals. I told them, I can’t work with them if they impose creative restrictions on us. They continued telecasting old episodes even when we went over to Doordarshan.

Now we may be back on Zee in the near future.

How do you feel to be constantly dealing with lives of hardened criminals?
It can be quite amusing at times. Recently we did a story on Lallan Singh from Mokamma in Bihar. He threatened to come over personally to Delhi and finish me off. I said he was most welcome that I would wait for him. He objected to our telecasting a telephonic interview with him. He said the interview had caused him great humiliation in his own locality (laughs). The nexus between politics and crime is not peculiar to Bihar or UP alone. Yeh to purey Hindustan ki baat hai.

You say three of your episodes were dropped on Zee. Don’t you foresee similar problems on Doordarshan?
Touchwood, so far it’s been smooth-sailing on Doordarshan. The officials have been quite lenient so far. The new government claims Doordarshan will be autonomous. Let’s see how autonomous it really is. As for Zee, we are negotiating about resuming our show on the channel, provided they don’t interfere with our work. I’ll make separate programmes for Zee and Doordarshan. But negotiations with Zee are at a primary stage.

India’s Most Wanted champions crime exposure and accountability. Do you think it’s important to follow up an expose with hard results?
Yes, of course. There’s no point having a crime-watch serial without a target. It’s pointless to just show crime and teach the modus operandi regarding crimes to the public. I wanted to go beyond depicting crime. Television is a very powerful medium. It’s time to use this medium to propogate socially relevant ideas. Programmes on crime-watch and crime prevention have been part of television in places like the USA, Nigeria and Australia for over a decade.

All these programmes have been produced by the respective governments on the state police. India’s Most Wanted is the only crime-watch programme in the world that’s produced by a private television company.

Doesn’t that indicate the level of corruption in our government agencies?
A lot of officers do co-operate with us. Cops like Deepak Mishra, a DCP from Delhi really helped me to gather information. Or Nikhil Kumar. I agree they’re in a minority. Those who are honest and helpful are pulled down by the rest of the department. There are individual officers who want to change the system. But they are isolated.

The aforementioned Deepak Mishra has been transferred to Mizoram. The system doesn’t allow honest and hardworking officials to function.

When you returned from England were you shocked by the level of crime and corruption in India?
The more knowledge we gathered, the more aware we became of the immensity of the problem. If there are irregularities in the judicial system how can we even speak of justice? The innocent are languishing in jail while the biggest criminals are roaming around scot-free.

Don’t you feel your endeavour cannot stand up to the magnitude of corruption in the country?
My role is to inform people about the weaknesses in our system. That, I’m doing. How successful I’m in doing so, I cannot say. But yes, an awareness has come into people’s attitudes. People are willing to raise their voices against injustice. I’m sure a time will come when things will change in the country. Woh subah kabhi to aayegi.

Any plans for the future?
On television all my time is consumed by Fugitive: India’s Most Wanted. Now I want to publish a magazine where I can address social issues, freely and frankly. I am not interested in fictional programming on television at all. I want to use the medium to enhance social consciousness about crime and justice.

Subhash K Jha