Vigilante - The new super-hero!

Fiction aficionados will agree when I say that the trends in the market of publishing have always been predictable. Whenever there is a major hit - like say a Harry Potter, or a Twilight, or a Lord of the Rings, there will always be hundreds of other books that'll come out on similar lines. Some of these trends stick around for a while longer than the others, but usually they'll all fizzle out - and be replaced with something else.

Trends are also applicable to novels in popular fiction. Dozens of John Grisham wannabes flooded the market with the success of The Rainmaker and The Summons. Then hundreds of writers mushroomed with the success of Sidney Sheldon and his unique style of 'Suspense, Intrigue, and Passion'.

The new trend that I see now is that of Vigilantism, and in the wake of 9/11, one really can't blame writers for taking that path! The romanticism of a loner who takes on the system and gets away with it is too good to resist - and some of the most amazing novels of the decade - from writers like Lee Child, James Patterson, and Harlan Coben - are all true to the theme.

Movies have always followed the books that sell, and this theme is no different! From all over the world we've had vigilante movies becoming sleeper hits, and surprisingly, they're hits with all kinds of audiences!

Films like Law Abiding Citizen from The USA, Harry Brown from England, and A Wednesday from India all have one common theme - a simple man steps up against the system, and gets away with it! Actually, the theme has been around for several decades, but has been popular with a different ending - where the hero is punished, and everyone goes home with the idea that while it is amazing to be able to do something against the rot, the punishment it'll attract makes it not worth it.

If films and books are pointers of the simmering ideas in the society, does that mean vigilantism is coming to be accepted by the common man? If so, will we see a proliferation of people taking the law into their own hands? If so, the next big trend will be of the state revolting against the single vigilante who forgets his own limits and goes overboard.