As Rehman Dakait in Dhurandhar, the journey of Akshaye Khanna's character begins and ends in a hospital.
With quivering lips and teary eyes, he enters the frame, dominating the scene, not as much as a feared gang lord of Karachi's Lyari but as a broken father who had come to identify his son's body after the heir was murdered at a wedding party which was quite like the Red Wedding from Game of Thrones.
In the end, life comes full circle for Rehman Dakait, whose real name was Sardar Abdul Rehman Baloch.
His body bloodied, him lying lifeless on a stretcher. In real life too, the Lyari gangster who tried to edge his way into politics through former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party, ended up dead on a hospital stretcher.
The Real Rehman Dakait
In 2009, Rehman Dakait and his three companions Aqeel Baloch, Aurangzaib Baba and Nazir Bala were in two cars at Link Road in Karachi's Kathore neighbourhood, when a police party headed by East Zone II Investigation SSP Chaudhry Aslam Khan tried to intercept them near the National Highway, which fell within the jurisdiction of Steel Town police station.
According to Pakistani media, Rehman Dakait and his companions reportedly opened fire on police, following which a gun battle ensued, which ended with the gangsters getting injured. Pakistani media say the gangsters were taken to the hospital but died on the way.
When TV channels broke the news of Rehman Dakait's news, Chaudhry Aslam told a Pakistani outlet, "As the SSP of this investigation, I confirm that this is Rehman Dakait."
The Reel vs Real Story
In Dhurandhar, Sanjay Dutt's Chaudhry Aslam takes Rehman Dakait into his custody as he and his wife Ulfat are en route to the hospital with their young son who has fallen sick. Ranveer Singh's Humza Ali Mazari negotiates with Chaudhry Aslam, and Rehman Dakait walks free.
Towards the end of the film, Humza changes tack and joins hands with PPP leader Jameel Jamaali (Rakesh Bedi) and Chaudhry Aslam to eliminate Rehman Dakait and replace him as the 'King of Lyari'.
After an overlong chase sequence, a battered and bruised Rehman Dakait is caught. Chaudhry Aslam puts a bullet in his throat, telling Humza to keep his finger in to stop the blood loss, till they reach the hospital.
But in reality, it wasn't that simple.
A 'Fake Encounter'
Rehman Dakait's wife went to the Sindh High Court, claiming that her husband was killed in a fake encounter. In her petition, she said that her husband had gone to Turbat, Balochistan, for a business meeting with his friends when they were stopped by the police on August 9, 2009 between 5 pm and 5.30 pm near Zero Point on the Coastal Highway. Rehman Dakait and his friends were then "kidnapped and kept somewhere else".
According to Rehman Dakait's wife's appeal, the four friends were killed on the night of August 10, 2009 in a fake encounter somewhere near the Steel Town police station. She also alleged that her husband was a reputed social worker and his rise into the political rungs threatened some politicians and the bureaucracy.
Maulana Abdul Majeed Sarbazi, who served as the chairman of Rehman Baloch's People's Aman Committee, also questioned the circumstances of his death.
"The autopsy reports say that Rehman was fired at a distance of three feet. That's not how people die in encounters. It is extremely sad that for seven years there was a fight going on between two groups no one interfered, and when things got better they killed Khan bhai. We don't understand why this happened or who was behind it," Sarbazi told The Express Tribune later.
The jury is still out on whether Rehman Dakait's death was an extra-judicial killing or a politically-motivated murder. Then there are some who suspected that the Baloch Liberation Army was behind his killing.
"I think the BLA had a hand in his death, because of the arms deals that Rehman used to allegedly carry out for them. Rehman did have links with them; a Baloch Student Organisation member was allegedly involved in Rehman's escape from custody when he was arrested for the second time," a PPP insider said.
'Rehman Dakait Is Dead And His Gang Is Finished'
After Rehman Dakait's death, Chaudhry Aslam was reported to have said, "Rehman Dakait is dead and his gang is finished."
The Sindh High Court initially acquitted Chaudhry Aslam and seven other officers, only to later appoint a third inquiry officer and directing an FIR against the top cop for the alleged killing. Before the verdict could be reached, Chaudhry Aslam was killed in a 2014 suicide bombing, whose responsibility was assumed by the Pakistani Taliban.
Also Read | How Dhurandhar Built Karachi's Lyari On A 6-Acre Plot 6,000 Km Away In Bangkok