{"id":4288,"date":"2016-04-01T11:31:11","date_gmt":"2016-04-01T06:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288"},"modified":"2016-04-01T11:31:11","modified_gmt":"2016-04-01T06:01:11","slug":"sonchiriya-hindi-film-dacoits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=4288","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Campy Cult of B-Grade Hindi Film Dacoits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span class=\"dropcap\">T<\/span>he dacoits of Bollywood \u2013 once regulars in films like <\/p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sholay<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1975), <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dacait<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1987), <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yateem<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1988), and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bandit Queen<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1994) \u2013 are back in Abhishek Chaubey\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/sonchiriya-review-abhishek-chaubey-ranvir-shorey-chambal\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sonchiriya<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Well, at least temporarily. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The last time we encountered a proper \u201cdaaku\u201d on screen was in Tigmanshu Dhulia\u2019s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Paan Singh Tomar<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> seven years ago. Dacoits have always been a polarising figure in Bollywood narratives. At one point they were \u201cbaaghis\u201d (rebels) who stood against oppression of all kinds, including <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/grub\/restaurants-pubs-caste-system-india\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">caste discrimination<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. And then they were the daakus who came in and looted villages without mercy. Yet more often than not, Bollywood reduced dacoits to lusty, villainous figures; their methods and exploits making them all the more suitable to be branded anti-heroes. Soon enough, their quirks and individuality were lost to catchphrases like \u201cKitne aadmi thhe?\u201d And as Bollywood started modernising and embracing urban stories, the humble old dacoit became a pariah.<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So where did these daakus five refuge when Bollywood refused to welcome them? The B-grade Hindi film industry. Horror and sleaze were already flourishing in B-grade Hindi films and dacoits became the icing on the cake. What\u2019s fascinating is that even mainstream Bollywood actors like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/happy-birthday-paaji-dharmendra-is-like-your-grandpa-on-instagram\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dharmendra<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Kiran Kumar, Shakti Kapoor and Raza Murad were seen in such films.<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The obvious source of inspiration for most of these films came from one unforgettable character: Gabbar Singh. There was <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ramgarh Ke Sholay<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1991) \u2013 a parody of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sholay<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The film&#8217;s claim to fame was having Amjad Khan reprising his role as Gabbar and terrorising Ramgarh once again. In this version, Jai and Veeru were replaced by four lookalikes of superstars Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Govinda, and Anil Kapoor who turned up to save the day. There&#8217;s also a tribute to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Parinda<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1989) in the film, where Gabbar Singh guns down Munna, the Anil Kapoor-lookalike while he is busy romancing the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/pov\/rani-padmavati-burning-queen-allauddin-khilji-rajput-history-india-women\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">heroine<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even Joginder Shelly \u2013 one of the doyens of the B-grade Hindi film industry \u2013 played a dreaded dacoit called Ranga in two daaku films: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bindiya Aur Bandook<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1972) and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ranga Khush<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1975). Ranga is completely deranged, and shoots random people to practice his aim and takes a bath every three years. And in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ranga Khush<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (the title of the film was inspired by a dialogue from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bindiya Aur Bandook<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), Ranga believes he is the stone-hearted <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/pov\/india-motherhood-pregnancy-baby-boy-girl-female-foeticide-adoption\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">love-child<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of crime and sin. Not only is he psychotic but he also exploits his abusive childhood to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/love-and-sex\/office-romance-in-the-post-metoo-world\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">manipulate<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> women and kidnap young children and turn them into monsters like him. Such was his menace that no human is able to stop him in the film until Lord Vishnu, Hanuman, Jesus Christ, Guru Nanak, and Allah come together to end his reign. Incidentally, Ranga Khush released the same year as <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sholay<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and Shelly has often accused the makers of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sholay<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of taking inspiration from Ranga to create Gabbar Singh. <\/span>\n<blockquote class=\"quote--center\">But the reason why I recommend seeking out these campy B-grade daakus is because of their innate ability to tweak the mainstream narrative.<\/blockquote>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Could the legendary Kanti Shah be far behind? In his film, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jung Ke Sholay <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(2003) \u2013 a raunchy and near <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/pov\/online-troll-kavita-kaushik-police-pervert\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">perverted<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> take on <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sholay<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 the saviour of Ramgarh are two women. The film\u2019s main villain \u2013 Gabbar\u2019s daughter, Gabariya \u2013 is a woman, as well. In <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jung Ke Sholay<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> then, Putli Bai (Satnam Kaur), Munni Bai (Sapna), Thakurayain (Tripathi) and Gabariya (Sapna) fight it out as Jai and Veeru watch. In the film, Gabbar is played by Vinod Tripathi, who also essays five other roles, including that of Thakurayein, a Jailer, a cop called Inspector Khan, Gabariya&#8217;s brother Jabbar, and Gabariya&#8217;s spy in Ramgarh. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Besides its fascinating role-reversal, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jung Ke Sholay<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> boasted of a spectacularly campy plot that could give any <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/pop-culture\/harry-potter-rowling-homophobia-lgbtq-fanfiction-drarry\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">fan-fiction<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a run for its money: Gabariya is born after Gabbar rapes her mother. Once she grows up, Gabariya kills Gabbar to exact revenge for her mother\u2019s death and then follows in her father\u2019s footsteps by spreading her reign of terror across Ramgarh with her brother, Jabbar. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In one of the film\u2019s most satisfyingly absurd scenes, Gabariya tweaks the famous \u201cKitne aadmi thhe?\u201d to \u201cKitne laundiya thhe?\u201d when her men return defeated. Shah\u2019s homage to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sholay<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> doesn\u2019t just end there: In the film, Jai is a tangewala in Ramgarh and as the final showdown approaches, Gabbariya kidnaps Munni Bai and it\u2019s Jai and Veeru who have to dance in front of her. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shah\u2019s filmography is littered with many more dacoit films, like <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daku Ramkali<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2000), <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aag Ke Sholay <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(2001), and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gabbar Singh<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2007). In fact, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sholay\u2019s <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Basanti has also inspired several B-grade gems. Notable among them are <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Basanti Tangewali<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (1992), <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Main Hoon Basanti Tangewali<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2009), <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Basanti Jawan Gabbar Pareshan<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2015) but it is Harinam Singh&#8217;s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Basanti Ki Shaadi, Honeymoon Gabbar Ka <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(2002), whose ridiculous theatrics are unparalleled. <\/span>\n<blockquote class=\"quote--center\">At one point they were \u201cbaaghis\u201d (rebels) who stood against oppression of all kinds, including caste discrimination.<\/blockquote>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the film, Gabbar falls in love with a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/bollywood\/dev-d-eternal-soundtrack-broken-hearted\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">broken-hearted<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Basanti, who is left pining for Veeru. Basanti\u2019s uncle disapproves of the match and relents only when Gabbar re-enacts the famous suicide scene from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sholay<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The film takes a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dhadkan<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">-esque turn when Veeru returns after Gabbar and Basanti get married and demands that she divorce Gabbar. Basanti refuses and it is her love that transforms Gabbar into an honest citizen who pleads for population control. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Basanti Ki Shaadi, Honeymoon Gabbar Ka<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a love story, possibly one of the few B-grade daaku films that broke the norm.<\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet unfortunately, the days of B-grade daaku films seem to be nearly over. The guns are not roaring anymore. The actors have stopped hamming. And, the B-grade industry has gone back to churning out <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/love-and-sex\/tinder-india-dating-apps-sex-hooking-up\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cheap sex<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and horror films. One of the last great daaku film to have come out of this industry was <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Basanti Jawan Gabbar Pareshan<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (2015) and even that was a rehash of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Basanti Ki Shaadi, Honeymoon Gabbar Ka<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span>\n\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the reason why I recommend seeking out these campy B-grade daakus is because of their innate ability to tweak the mainstream narrative. Their outrageousness shines. How else could you imagine a daaku film where Gabbar is a lovelorn <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/politics\/uttar-pradesh-india-yogi-adityanath-anti-romeo-squads-bjp\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Romeo<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; Jai and Veeru are item girls in front of a female Gabbar; and heroines are cast in roles traditionally meant for heroes? These films may not be considered \u201cart\u201d, but their persistent display of creativity is audacious. And that might just make Ranga Khush.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long before Abhishek Chaubey\u2019s Sonchiriya, daakus were constant stars of films churned out by the B-grade Hindi film industry. In one, Gabbar is a lovelorn Romeo, and in the other, Gabbar is a woman and Jai and Veeru are made to dance in front of her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":300,"featured_media":4289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[7723,7724,7725,1466,1315,7695],"class_list":["post-4288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-bandit-queen","tag-dacoit","tag-paan-singh-tomar","tag-romance","tag-sholay","tag-sonchiriya"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Inside the Campy Cult of B-Grade Hindi Film Dacoits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Long before Abhishek Chaubey\u2019s Sonchiriya, daakus were constant stars of films churned out by the B-grade Hindi film industry. In one, Gabbar is a lovelorn Romeo, and in the other, Gabbar is a woman and Jai and Veeru are made to dance in front of her.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inside the Campy Cult of B-Grade Hindi Film Dacoits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Long before Abhishek Chaubey\u2019s Sonchiriya, daakus were constant stars of films churned out by the B-grade Hindi film industry. In one, Gabbar is a lovelorn Romeo, and in the other, Gabbar is a woman and Jai and Veeru are made to dance in front of her.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-01T06:01:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1551862479.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sayantan Mondal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Inside the Campy Cult of B-Grade Hindi Film Dacoits\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Long before Abhishek Chaubey\u2019s Sonchiriya, daakus were constant stars of films churned out by the B-grade Hindi film industry. In one, Gabbar is a lovelorn Romeo, and in the other, Gabbar is a woman and Jai and Veeru are made to dance in front of her.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sayantan Mondal\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4288#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4288\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sayantan Mondal\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d02bb18b01515f2557e5627b38dc3821\"},\"headline\":\"Inside the Campy Cult of B-Grade Hindi Film Dacoits\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-01T06:01:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4288\"},\"wordCount\":1067,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4288#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1551862479.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Bandit Queen\",\"dacoit\",\"Paan Singh Tomar\",\"romance\",\"Sholay\",\"Sonchiriya\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Pop Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4288\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4288\",\"name\":\"Inside the Campy Cult of B-Grade Hindi Film Dacoits\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4288#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4288#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1551862479.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-01T06:01:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d02bb18b01515f2557e5627b38dc3821\"},\"description\":\"Long before Abhishek Chaubey\u2019s Sonchiriya, daakus were constant stars of films churned out by the B-grade Hindi film industry. In one, Gabbar is a lovelorn Romeo, and in the other, Gabbar is a woman and Jai and Veeru are made to dance in front of her.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4288#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4288\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4288#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1551862479.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1551862479.jpg\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?p=4288#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Inside the Campy Cult of B-Grade Hindi Film Dacoits\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d02bb18b01515f2557e5627b38dc3821\",\"name\":\"Sayantan Mondal\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5e810fe24580c72ac5736e627ac2d10ecc638bea5a40143f3d0b4e7664c094f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5e810fe24580c72ac5736e627ac2d10ecc638bea5a40143f3d0b4e7664c094f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5e810fe24580c72ac5736e627ac2d10ecc638bea5a40143f3d0b4e7664c094f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sayantan Mondal\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=300\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Inside the Campy Cult of B-Grade Hindi Film Dacoits","description":"Long before Abhishek Chaubey\u2019s Sonchiriya, daakus were constant stars of films churned out by the B-grade Hindi film industry. In one, Gabbar is a lovelorn Romeo, and in the other, Gabbar is a woman and Jai and Veeru are made to dance in front of her.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Inside the Campy Cult of B-Grade Hindi Film Dacoits","og_description":"Long before Abhishek Chaubey\u2019s Sonchiriya, daakus were constant stars of films churned out by the B-grade Hindi film industry. In one, Gabbar is a lovelorn Romeo, and in the other, Gabbar is a woman and Jai and Veeru are made to dance in front of her.","og_url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-04-01T06:01:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":850,"url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1551862479.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sayantan Mondal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Inside the Campy Cult of B-Grade Hindi Film Dacoits","twitter_description":"Long before Abhishek Chaubey\u2019s Sonchiriya, daakus were constant stars of films churned out by the B-grade Hindi film industry. In one, Gabbar is a lovelorn Romeo, and in the other, Gabbar is a woman and Jai and Veeru are made to dance in front of her.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sayantan Mondal","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288"},"author":{"name":"Sayantan Mondal","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/d02bb18b01515f2557e5627b38dc3821"},"headline":"Inside the Campy Cult of B-Grade Hindi Film Dacoits","datePublished":"2016-04-01T06:01:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288"},"wordCount":1067,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1551862479.jpg","keywords":["Bandit Queen","dacoit","Paan Singh Tomar","romance","Sholay","Sonchiriya"],"articleSection":["Pop Culture"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288","name":"Inside the Campy Cult of B-Grade Hindi Film Dacoits","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1551862479.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-01T06:01:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/d02bb18b01515f2557e5627b38dc3821"},"description":"Long before Abhishek Chaubey\u2019s Sonchiriya, daakus were constant stars of films churned out by the B-grade Hindi film industry. In one, Gabbar is a lovelorn Romeo, and in the other, Gabbar is a woman and Jai and Veeru are made to dance in front of her.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1551862479.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1551862479.jpg","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=4288#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Inside the Campy Cult of B-Grade Hindi Film Dacoits"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/d02bb18b01515f2557e5627b38dc3821","name":"Sayantan Mondal","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e810fe24580c72ac5736e627ac2d10ecc638bea5a40143f3d0b4e7664c094f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e810fe24580c72ac5736e627ac2d10ecc638bea5a40143f3d0b4e7664c094f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e810fe24580c72ac5736e627ac2d10ecc638bea5a40143f3d0b4e7664c094f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sayantan Mondal"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=300"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1551862479.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/300"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}