From ‘bikini killer’ Charles Sobhraj’s daring jailbreak to teenager Aarushi Talwar’s sensational murder, real-life incidents have been steadily finding their way to the celluloid. The gritty realism portrayed on screen can be fascinating, pulling in the crowds. While the formula may have worked well at the box office, it has, more often than not, triggered controversy with filmmakers being accused of trying to make capital out of personal tragedies — even character assassination of the real-life victims, who ‘inspire’ their fiction.

In the eye of storm now is Manish Gupta’s Rahasya, which is allegedly based on the Aarushi Talwar case. Her family has opposed the film’s release on the plea that misrepresentation of facts would vilify the girl, who was found murdered in her Noida home along with the family’s domestic help, Hemraj, in May 2008. Though the Central Board of Film Certification has dismissed speculations of similarities between the film and the incident, Aarushi’s close ones are not convinced.