Police encounter killings have been on our cultural radar since July when gangster Vikas Dubey's encounter killing by the Uttar Pradesh police marked their 119th encounter killing since March 2017. This is a logical outcome of UP's Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's "Thok Do" policy. The ethics and heroism of such moments find themselves on opposite sides of the argument.
Netflix's latest Class of '83, favouring the side of heroism, takes this story back to 1983 Mumbai, when gangsters like Dawood Ibrahim, Iqbal Kaskar, and Chhota Rajan were reigning. Bobby Deol plays Dean Vijay Singh of the police academy who trains five lethal assassin policemen for whom "bina jurisdiction ke, gangsters ki encounter karne ki freedom hogi." Kalsekar is the gangster in question here. Through grungy frames, we get flashbacks, violence, and heroism, questioned by the corrupt bureaucracy.
Based on the book "The Class of 83" by Hussain Zaidi, this is the third collaboration between Netflix and Red Chillies Productions, the first two being the poorly received Bard Of Blood and Betaal. The book is based on the life and times of Police Officer Pradeep Sharma, one of the most famous officers of the Mumbai Encounter Squad.
Directed by Atul Sabharwal (Aurangzeb), and written by Abhijeet Shirish Deshpande, Class of '83 premieres on Netflix on August 21st.