Mumbai hostage stand-off has eerie similarities to 2022 film ‘A Thursday’

The three-hour stand-off on Thursday in which a man, Rohit Arya, held 17 children and two persons hostage in Mumbai’s Powai has eerie similarities to a 2022 Hindi film.

A Thursday, featuring actress Yami Gautam whose character kidnaps 16 children and two persons at a school, was also based in Mumbai. The name of the film reflects that day the kidnapping happens in the movie, a Thursday.

In the film, Gautam plays a school teacher named Naina, whose school is located opposite her residence.

Parents drop off their children at the school and Naina asks a parent to send over a cake for their daughter’s birthday celebration. The driver who delivers the cake is also taken hostage, along with a helper who returns to the school to look for her mobile phone.

Naina calls the police and tells them that she has taken 16 children hostage.

Rohit Arya, who was at the centre of the hostage crisis shot in Mumbai on Thursday, had contacted parents from various locations under the pretext of conducting an audition.

One family said that Arya had told them that the audition at Ra Studio in Powai’s Mahavir Classik building would last for three days. Arya allegedly locked the children inside along with two adults.

He then released a video saying that his demands...

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