the verdict is clear violence as entertainment is in goodness is out the popularity of ruthless killers in films like satya and company and of smart crooks in aankhen and kaante is part of this trend satya was a hit company and aankhen did average business nationwide and reasonably well in the metros commendable in a year when bollywood had just one big hit in raaz what is it that makes bad so watchable with the urban audience bhaskar rao director centre for media studies says there has always been a certain charm to being wicked deviation always entices today we are more attracted to it because we feel helpless as citizens we like to think it offers a way out the film industry exploits this with the help of slick technologythe last few years have seen a major shift in the perception of the negative hero when sanjay dutt made inroads into peoples hearts with khalnayak there was still need for justification he was an insecure child wanting to prove a point pity and sympathy were an essential component in the viewers response satyas bhiku mahatre did away with such apologies bhiku was a killer he was also a caring family man a friend in need a funloving person he was what the urban youth call bindaas it was impossible not to like him director ramgopal vermas views are telling there is no doubt that these guys who are victimising society are themselves victims of a larger force and that larger force could be legitimate in society i have seen these people they live from moment to moment without trust and whats worse without hope i only try to show them as i see them the bad guy as victim why notoberois take on chhota rajan in vermas company reflects this growing understanding of a coldblooded killer his popularity shows that a lot of us agree with verma explaining this authorscriptwriter kamleshwar says we are going through a crisis of trust in society as a persons anger against institutions and lawenforcing agencies increases he gets angrier this encourages him to see dadas as role models this appetite is also reflected in popular television live telecasts of the wtc terror attacks and the afghanus war saw viewer loyalties shifting from goodbahu soaps to bin laden videos aaj tak saw a 156 per cent increase in viewership and cnn not very popular since the iraniraq war notched up good pointstvs recent celebrities include natasha singh r k and madhu sharma sharda jain and memwati barwala all connected with cases of violent death each of these stories are at the intersection of the three basics of tv news breaking news throwing up personalities and strong visuals says media personality nalini singhsome months back when natasha singh died of a broken back because of her fall from the top floor of a fivestar hotel in delhi everyone had a theory about the modus operandi mostly picked up