Categoría: OffSide

As a documentary series that delves deep into the tale of suspected cannibal Raja Kolander, Netflix’s ‘Indian Predator: Diary of a Serial Killer’ can only be described as horrifically bone-chilling. That’s because he not just went to extremes in every single one of his reported offenses (whether theft or homicides), but he also continues to believe he’s the real victim owing to his aspirations. So now, if you wish to learn more about him — with a specific focus on his past experiences, the legal case against him, as well as his current standing — we’ve got the necessary details for you.

Who is Raja Kolander?

Although born as Ram Niranjan in the tribal Kol community within Allahabad (or Prayagraj) in Uttar Pradesh, India, back in 1962, he actually preferred to go by Raja Kolander by the early 2000s. His alias quite literally translates to The King of the Kols, plus he’d even named his three children after different aspects of the general system; Adalat (court), Zamanat (bail), and Andolan (protest). This in itself packs a lot when it comes to the psyche of the then ad-hoc employee as well as driver at a government ordinance factory, only for his atrocious actions to come to light in late 2000.

According to local news reports, Raja used to run a vehicle looting gang before he moved on to murders, with his primary motive being intangible elements like respect, power, and reputation. He was purportedly locally known for always offering a helping hand to those in need no matter their situation, which is the pattern he seemingly followed to befriend and slay his victims as well. Whether it be blindsiding them through a warm invite to his piggery farm, suddenly striking on isolated roads, or jumping from behind, the aspiring politician allegedly did it all upon gaining trust.

However, per the docuseries, it wasn’t until Raja was linked to thriving journalist Dhirendra Singh’s tragic December 2000 disappearance and murder that any of these factors came to light. His confession had actually driven officials to execute a search of his home, during which the uncovering of his diary made suspicions rise since it listed several other names before Dhirendra’s. Raja then claimed he’d not just slain them but had also participated in acts of cannibalism (including drinking from their brains) prior to disposing of them — his kill count is thus suspected to be 14.

Where is Raja Kolander Now?

Raja has essentially been behind bars from the moment he was initially taken into custody on December 18, 2000, yet it took more than a decade for him to face trial for the charges against him. After all, even though he’d led detectives to Dhirendra’s remains and a few literal human skeletons buried around his piggery farm, there were some doubts regarding whom he’d positively slain. The Netflix original production actually implies it’s because some of the individuals identified in his diary were still alive and unharmed — he was hence found guilty of merely three murders.

With Raja’s modus operandi being decapitating his victims over petty issues before disposing them of in lakes, forests, or beneath the ground, he was deemed a monster by the local media. That’s especially owing to the fact he supposedly kept their heads in most cases to “eat their brains” and then hung some skulls inside his family home; a claim he has now come out to deny. In fact, in ‘Indian Predator,’ Raja asserted his innocence and blamed the police as well as the media for his conviction by alleging they conspired against him since he was entering politics despite his Kol background.

Coming to his current standing, as Raja was sentenced to life in prison on November 30, 2012, and his appeals are still outstanding, he remains incarcerated at the high-security Unnao District Jail. We should clarify the 60-year-old is specifically serving time for the January 2000 car-jacking turned double murder of Manoj Singh and Ravi Shrivastava as well as the December 2000 homicide of Dhirendra Singh. No charge of cannibalism against him has ever been proved in court.

“It doesn’t matter to me now whether I am released or not,” Raja confidently said in the docuseries. “The allegations have been made, and when the verdict is finally reached [following appeals], I will get out. My spirituality is there for me anyway. It doesn’t make any difference to me whether I am released from prison or not.”

Read More: Where is Raja Kolander’s Wife Phoolan Devi Now?

It’s always nice to queue up a horror film trailer and see at least something you haven’t seen before, which makes the newly released trailer for MGM’s Dark Harvest, which you can view below, a pleasant surprise. This under-the-radar release sadly doesn’t look to be getting a theatrical release, but considering the film seems to have been completed a few years ago, those who worked on it are probably happy the film is getting released at all. And indeed it is, with a wide digital release scheduled for Oct. 13, 2023.

Dark Harvest is an adaptation of author Norman Partridge’s 2006 horror novel of the same name–the image above is from the 2007 edition published by Tor Books, looking rather similar to The Sandman‘s Merv Pumpkinhead. It depicts one Sawtooth Jack, the film’s central monster antagonist, but rather than simply being a retro slasher or creature feature, Dark Harvest has an enjoyably novel premise that pushes it more in the direction of Battle Royale or The Hunger Games, though Partridge’s book actually predates The Hunger Games series.

Whereas most settings with a pumpkin-headed, Halloween-themed monster would presumably involve a local legend returning such a creature to life, in a town that doubts its existence, Dark Harvest flips the script by making the annual appearances of Sawtooth Jack not just a known event, but one molded into a local tradition and bloody right of passage. In this town, the monster’s annual rampage must be countered by all of the young male residents, who are forced to hunt down the monster and stop it from reaching a local church, by order of the town’s elders as a “sacred duty.” Should Sawtooth Jack reach his destination, we are warned that the entire town could be destroyed. But perhaps there’s a bit more to the seedy backstory of the pumpkin-headed legend?

Regardless, putting all of the teenage boys into deadly competition against each other and a roving monster seems like great fodder for a horror film. Dark Harvest is directed by David Slade of Hard Candy and 30 Days of Night and was reportedly filmed in 2021, before missing a potential release date last Halloween season. Here’s hoping that it can make more a splash this time. Meanwhile, you can check out the stylish trailer below.

Netflix’s ‘Fate: The Winx Saga’ follows the story of Bloom, a fire fairy who discovers that she is much more powerful than she’d imagined. The true potential of Bloom’s power is yet to be revealed as the mystery is unraveled layer by layer. Just when she thinks she has found a way to control her power, she finds out something new that she needs to get a handle on. While people like Farah Dowling and Rosalind Hale try to guide Bloom, none of them really knows what she is actually capable of.

No one else has ever come across the Dragon Flame before, and the only person who can actually tell her everything she needs to know is someone who’s possessed the flame themselves. To her surprise, Bloom discovers that the person who had the flame before her was her mother. So, when she finds out that her mother is alive and she has a way to meet her, she jumps at the chance. However, the world of ‘Fate: The Winx Saga’ is full of uncertainties and things aren’t generally what they look like. What does this say about the mysterious woman that Bloom meets at the end of Season 2? Let’s find out.

Who is the Woman Bloom Finds in the Realm of Darkness?

Ever since she discovered that she was a changeling, Bloom had been desperate to find out about her real parents. In the first season, it was revealed that she was taken by Rosalind who left her in the care of a human couple who were not aware of Bloom’s true nature. Later, she finds out that Rosalind took her from Aster Dell. For a while, she believes that she was born there, but later, it turns out that a Blood Witch had found her. This creates further mystery around the identity of her parents, but this is just the beginning.

Things get more complicated when Sebastian tells Bloom that she was not born seventeen years ago, as she believed. She was actually born a thousand years ago and was put in stasis by her mother. This means that her parents were born a thousand years ago and had died around the same time too. This throws Bloom into despair because now she has no way to meet her parents and find out who she truly is. But hope arrives when she discovers that her mother had locked herself in the Realm of Darkness. Believing that she might still be alive there, Bloom decides to cross over too.

In her visions, Bloom had already seen the building that she comes across in the Realm of Darkness. It is there that she meets a mysterious woman who she thinks is her mom, and there is a good chance that this woman really is her mother. Even though she’d crossed over to the Realm a thousand years ago, we don’t know how time moves there. What’s a thousand years for Otherworld could just be a few decades in the Realm. Even if time doesn’t move differently here, we know that Bloom’s mother also possessed the Dragon Flame. From what we hear about her, she was one of the most powerful fairies of her time, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if she knows a trick or two to keep herself alive and well for a thousand years. If so, then Bloom will finally have what she wanted, her parents as well as some answers.

Despite Bloom’s mother’s powers, we can’t help but consider the improbability of Bloom finding her mother so easily in the Realm. Moreover, this place is a whole world in itself and it only makes sense that more than one person should reside here. It could be that Bloom has simply walked into the house of a resident of the Realm of Darkness, and this person might further help her to find her mother.

Another and more terrifying possibility is that this woman is actually the Shadow in disguise. We know that Sebastian was after Bloom’s Dragon Flame and still wanted it, even though he’d already opened the door. This means that he believed the Flame might grant him some favor with the Shadow. If so, then with the Flame so close to its reach, in its own realm, there is a chance that the Shadow has disguised itself as a woman, maybe even as Bloom’s mother, to get her to trust it, so that it can catch her off guard and take her powers for itself. The true nature of the woman will only be revealed in Season 3. By then, we can only hope that it doesn’t bode any bad thing for Bloom.

Read More: Where Is Fate: The Winx Saga Filmed?