Story Brunch
Story of the gangster who inspired many movies of Bollywood, prominent ones being Shehar (Arsad Warsi) and Bullet Raja (Saif Ali Khan and Jimmy Shergil).
In the mid-90s, under the ominous shadow of the Samajwadi Party’s regime, the region of Uttar Pradesh witnessed a reign of terror like no other. Purvanchal, the eastern region of this state, particularly stood as a canvas painted in tones of fear and anxiety. During this era, a simple, studious boy Shri Prakash Shukla emerged from the humbleness of an ordinary Brahmin family. His routine involved safeguarding his sister on her way to college, serving as her knight in a world where chivalry had succumbed to lawlessness.
Back then, Purvanchal was a perilous landscape for women. As dusk fell, they disappeared behind the walls of their homes, lest they encounter the menacing agents of the prevailing ‘gunda raaj.’ One fateful day, however, the fortress of safety built by our protagonist collapsed when his sister fell victim to the perverse attentions of local hooligans. Outraged, he stood up to them, only to be met with a humiliating slap.
This was a turning point. This young scholar, previously uninvolved in any criminal activities, felt a fire kindle within him—a yearning for revenge. His thirst for justice would soon pave the way for a path he had never envisioned walking, ultimately changing the face of law and order in Uttar Pradesh forever.
Driven by anger, he armed himself with a dagger and took the life of the leading tormentor. In taking one life, another was birthed. The mild-mannered scholar morphed into a formidable force, a deadly player in the anarchic world he had plunged into.
In response, the gang leader who once sheltered the now-dead hooligan bayed for the boy’s blood, and even the police joined the hunt. Thus, the boy found himself in the throes of a deadly chase, with both criminal and law enforcers on his tail.
As 1995 dawned, the nearby state of Bihar was also caught in the vicious grip of Bahubali Raaj, a time when underworld lords had more influence than district commissioners. Seeking refuge and training, the boy approached the Godfather of Bihar’s mafia world, the legendary Samrat Singh of Mokama. Singh, with his ubiquitous influence over government contracts and railway tenders, was a figure to be reckoned with. The desperate young man asked for his aid, which was generously granted.
After a year of rigorous training under Singh’s watchful eye, the boy returned to Uttar Pradesh. He was no longer the studious scholar he used to be but a trained predator— a new face in the underworld, known to all as Shri Prakash Shukla. His return was marked with a show of dominance and control, eliminating the gang lord who had once sought his life. The echo of this crime reverberated across Uttar Pradesh, shaking its underworld and its administration alike.
Shukla’s ruthlessness was soon noticed by the influential don, Krupa Shankar Tiwari. Seeing Shukla’s potential, Tiwari took him under his wing, employing his skills for his own ends. However, Shukla was not destined to be a mere minion. His ambition and influence outgrew his contemporaries, and he soon carved a path of his own, creating a reign of terror and respect in broad daylight.
Despite the terror he instilled, Shukla’s charm and good looks were not lost on the youth. His audacious criminal activities made him a symbol of power, particularly in an era when the political landscape was shifting from the upper castes to the Yadavs. Shukla’s power commanded respect and fear, becoming a beacon of caste strength amidst a society riddled with caste rivalries.
Shukla’s reign soon expanded beyond Uttar Pradesh. His audacious killing of a close aide of Lalu Yadav, a sitting minister of Bihar, in broad daylight was the pinnacle of his defiance against the system. This act shook the law and order machinery of two states, marking him as a threat like no other.
His reign, however, was not everlasting. A story of greed, power, and crime ultimately led to his downfall. Shukla was believed to have taken a contract to assassinate the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, stirring the state’s administration and police department into action. For the first time in India, a Special Task Force was formed to capture or kill Shri Prakash Shukla.
The STF, tapping into Shukla’s romantic liaisons, got wind of a planned meeting between him and his girlfriend at the Shipra City Mall at the Noida-Ghaziabad border. A strategic plan was drafted, and officers in plain clothes were deployed, their automatic rifles loaded and locked. A fierce encounter followed, resulting in Shukla’s unexpected demise.
Shukla’s reign of terror came to a sudden end, but his name lingered, haunting the corridors of the underworld, immortalized in the annals of the Purvanchal hinterlands. His story serves as a testament to a time when fear and crime reigned supreme, a chilling chapter in Uttar Pradesh’s complex history.
(Note: Some names/locations etc in the story are fictional.)
