The game’s virtual map features police stations, detention centres, India Gate and the Badarpur border, among other locations. (AI image)
The scenes playing out on Delhi’s streets have now found a second life on screens, with free online video games drawing inspiration from the Jantar Mantar protests, news agency PTI reported. NEW DELHI: What if getting to Jantar Mantar meant gathering a crowd, dodging tear gas and water cannons, and escaping detention, all while racking up ‘points’?
For Suraj Kushwah, a 27-year-old Bareilly resident who created ‘Jantar Mantar Chalo’, the idea came while watching the news. He told PTI that around 2,000 people played it simultaneously on one day, while an average of 500 players regularly logged in. Another attempt to turn the protests into a game came from Anav Nayar, a 30-year-old screenwriter and filmmaker who co-founded Wizloop Studios with his brother Akshay Nayar. Around 2,700 verified players have played the game so far,” Nayar said. In June and July, the CJP led a protest that included a march to Parliament on July 20, demanding the resignation of then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The protests may continue outside, but in these digital recreations, players get to decide how far they march, how many people they gather and whether they reach the finish line without being detained. (With inputs from PTI) You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Delhi | Silver Rate in Delhi | Bank Holidays in Delhi | Public Holidays in Delhi | Delhi AQI | Weather in Delhi | Petrol Price in Delhi | Diesel Price in Delhi | CNG Price in Delhi | LPG Price in Delhi Stay updated with the latest Delhi news.
“I was watching the news and, out of sarcasm, thought of making a game around it,” Kushwah told PTI. “I made it as a sarcastic take, but now that it is getting so much attention; I am looking at updating it further,” he said. Nayar said the brothers were planning updates to ensure the game represented Neha respectfully.
There’s ‘Jantar Mantar Chalo’, where players can choose to be protesters or police personnel, and ‘Bhaag Neha Bhaag’, inspired by AISA president Neha Bora’s attempts to reach Jantar Mantar. Then there’s ‘Jantar Mantar to Jail’, where players step into the shoes of Cockroach Janta Party ( CJP ) members Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, dodging falling jail bars and police personnel while collecting coins marked ‘Accountability’ and ‘Democracy’. Kushwah, who works at a cloud gaming company, is also a tech enthusiast. Using artificial intelligence (AI) and his knowledge of gaming, he built the game in just one-and-a-half days. The premise is straightforward: choose a side. As a protester, the task is to gather people and march towards Jantar Mantar; the bigger the crowd, the more powerful the player becomes. As a member of Delhi Police , the objective is to detain as many protesters as possible. The obstacles draw from the demonstrations themselves. Tear gas slows protesters down, while water cannons stand in their way. Players can even dance in front of the cannons or give interviews to media personnel. Those interviews are not just for show. Media coverage can increase a protester’s influence and bring more people into the gathering, affecting how the game unfolds. Its virtual map features police stations, detention centres, India Gate and the Badarpur border, among other locations. Kushwah initially shared the game on social media, where it began gaining traction as users made reels about it. The company focuses on content strategy, IP addresses for brands and the creative use of AI. Their game, ‘Bhaag Neha Bhaag’, took shape as the brothers followed Neha Bora’s repeated attempts to reach Jantar Mantar and the detentions that followed. Taking cues from games such as ‘Super Mario’, ‘Subway Surfers’ and the dinosaur that appears when an internet connection goes offline, ‘Bhaag Neha Bhaag’ has Neha’s character running as police personnel chase them. Players must jump over barricades, police personnel and cars to avoid detention. Along the way, they can collect the letter ‘D’, representing democracy, and save it during the run. The response has been positive, with several users messaging the brothers to ask for the link. “We have received several positive DMs (direct messages) asking for the link that we have put it in our bio. The brothers also created ‘Jantar Mantar to Jail’, which lets players choose between CJP members Dipke, Das and Ranka. Jail bars and police personnel in orange kurtas rain down from above, and players must dodge them while collecting coins marked ‘Accountability’ and ‘Democracy’. Collecting the letters earns points, with democracy carrying the higher score. The protests have inspired other games, too. One features chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, with players able to deliver a tap on his head as part of a satirical scoring exercise. The games draw on the memes and scenes that emerged during two major demonstrations in the capital, against the backdrop of the CJP’s protests. In October, the group returned to the streets, joining opposition parties and student organisations in demonstrations seeking the resignation of CEC Kumar over alleged irregularities in the functioning of the Election Commission and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. From virtual marches and police chases to collecting coins for democracy and accountability, the games offer a screen-bound, playful take on events unfolding on Delhi’s streets. Download the TOI App.
We named it ‘Bhaag Neha Bhaag’, inspired by one of our favourite German films ‘Run Lola Run’ (1998),” Nayar said.
“My brother Akshay asked me how they were managing to do it, and that got me thinking about creating a game around it,” Nayar told PTI. “We were following how Neha Bora and other protesters were trying to reach Jantar Mantar. They were detained but the very next day, they were back at the spot. “I initially tried to build the game myself but couldn’t get it to work the way I wanted to. So I took my brother’s help, and he developed the code for the game.