Rampuri chaku losing its legendary edge
After the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision in the mid-1990s to ban knives with blades longer than 4.5 inches, the Rampuri started to lose popularity.
By Aarthi Ramachandran, TNN |
RAMPUR: In many a Hindi film from the 1960s to the early 80s, the familiar click of the Rampuri knife snapping open signaled the start of the fight scene. In Waqt (1965) the inimitable Raj Kumar rasps at the villain, Madan Puri, who has an open Rampuri in his hand: “Jaani... yeh bacchon ki khelne ki cheez nahin hai...” (this is not meant for children to play with).
The Rampuri, the property of the small time villain in Hindi cinema, has now been replaced with an array of arms ranging from cycle chains to pistols and even swords. If the disappearance of the Rampuri from popular Hindi cinema of the last decade and a half is linked to the trajectory that Bollywood films have taken in this period, it is also because Rampuri has disappeared from shops at railway stations and busstands. The knife-making industry has slowly but surely stagnated in Rampur.
In Mohalla Nala Paar in Rampur’s market square, Mumtaz Khan’s shop selling the famous knives is only one of the eight that have survived out the 50 that used to line both sides of the road here. He snaps open a beauty of a 7.5 inch long blade with a silver and black handle. “I can sell this, but you can get arrested for keeping a knife with such a long blade,” he says.
After the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision in the mid-1990s to ban knives with blades longer than 4.5 inches, the Rampuri started to lose popularity. “Now only the CRPF men and some small-businessmen buy the knives,” Mr Khan says. The typical specimens with a 4 inch blade cost between Rs 35-45 but there are few takers here for this symbol of cinema’s villains in the past decades.
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