Aladdin's Lamp is Real

 

From - https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/meerut-conmen-dupe-several-with-promise-of-riches-from-aladdins-lamp/article32983494.ece

Meerut conmen dupe several with promise of riches from Aladdin’s lamp

by Anuj Kumar

Oct. 30. 2020

"In an incident that reminds how human greed is beyond reason, two persons have been arrested in Meerut for allegedly duping people with what they claimed is ‘Aladdin’s Chiragh’.

Meerut Police have arrested Ikramuddin and Anis on the complaint of one Laiq Khan for allegedly duping him of ₹2.5 crores after promising him that all his wishes would be fulfilled through the magical lamp.

“Laiq, who apparently specialises in Ayurveda and claims to be a doctor used to treat the mother of the accused Ikramuddin, himself a tantrik (occult practitioner). Ikramuddin promised the doctor that he had a lamp that would make him a billionaire,” said SHO, Brahmpuri Subhash Atri. 

Anis and Ikramuddin have been booked under sections 386 (extortion after putting a person under fear of death or grievous hurt and 420 of IPC. 

Mr Khan, who claims to have spent some time in London, told the police that Ikramuddin and his brother-in-law Anis would make a djinn appear in a dark room. “When Laiq would ask them to sell the lamp, they would scare him by saying that it would bring bad things to him. Ultimately, they agreed to sell [the lamp] him for ₹70 lakh but told him not to use it for six months otherwise the djinn would destroy his family,” said Mr Atri.

According to the SHO, however, Ikramuddin confessed to having duped Mr. Khan of only ₹40 lakhs. “He said the rest of the amount was paid back to the doctor to win his trust. We are investigating his account and would attach a house that he says he built from the amount received.”

Mr Atri said the modus operandi of the accused included winning the trust of the people by first showing them the results of the magical lamp. “For instance, they would ask people to give them ₹5 lakhs and give them ₹7 lakhs in return. In some cases, they would bury the money in some secluded place and ask the client to go there and dig it out. Such practices convinced people of their power.”

Mr Atri said Ikramuddin tried to convince the police too about the powers of the lamp. 

He said Meerut police were tracking the duo for some time. “As they have no fixed place of residence, it was hard to fish them out. Such practices mostly work on word of mouth. Finally, after a tip-off from a mole, they were nabbed on October 25. When Mr. Khan realised that the police were after Ikramuddin, he became circumspect and approached us.”

Now, the artificial, gleaming ‘Aladdin ka Chiragh’ is a case property along with the stone that was used to rub it. “As long as man is driven by greed, such cases would keep on happening,” Mr Atri said.

Live Action Prequel to Aladdin

 

Thanks to Paul for passing this along. Our friends at Disney are in the works putting together a live-action prequel to Aladdin (1992) called Genies. It's apparently the back story of the Genie's life. It is being written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift (the duo behind Freddy vs. Jason (2003)) and produced by Tripp Vinson.

"The new project would focus on the realm of the Genies and reveal how Aladdin's Genie ended up enslaved in the lamp.

Although Genies is only in the early stages of development, the long-term plan is to have the project lead into an Aladdin live-action movie."

More here – http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/aladdin-live-action-prequel-works-808895

Geico's Literal Genie (2014)

picture from blog.geico.com

Geico's latest attack on the senses is their "everyone knows that...but did you know" series. Geico is an insurance company based in the US known for an English accented lizard mascot and tongue-in-cheek ad campaigns.

Here they have a Genie (series debut in 2014) granting "literal" wishes, and, according to Geico's blog, this completes their "did you know" campaign:

and has evidently evolved into Genie and Me the mini-sitcom...
here is "Couch":



and "Laundry:



and finally (?) - "Kitchen":

Lego Genie Minifigure Series 6

Here is Lego's Genie from their Minifigure Series 6 (2012).

And a little about him from their website - http://www.lego.com/en-us/minifigures/characters/genie-d69d645d10b64e00bb35e948372af608

"“I’ll grant your wish…your wish for bricks!”

Rub the magic lamp and this friendly Genie will pop out to grant your wishes*…as long as they have to do with LEGO® bricks! Want a big enough pile of pieces to build a perfect full-scale model of the Great Wall of China? No problem! Looking for that long-lost LEGO Castle set you left in the playground when you were 5 and never saw again? Your wish is his command!

There’s only one limitation on the Genie’s incredible magical powers: he doesn’t do instruction booklets. He’ll give you all the bricks you could possibly want, but it’s up to you to figure out what to do with them. Ask him why, and he’ll just tell you that building steps are another genie’s department!
(*wish-granting requires use of imagination)"

Jinn (2014)

Thanks to Paul for passing this along. Jinn is an upcoming horror film to be released in April of 2014. Unlike other Jinn/Jann/Djinn/Genie related fare, this one seems to be adhering to an "authentic" portrayal of these disruptive spirits.

The Jinn are frequent characters in the Nights, though generally lumped together into a sort of mystical genie caricature. They are, however, different types and different personalities.

The film is reviewed here on Fangoria, the popular horror magazine that you all should subscribe to: http://www.fangoria.com/new/have-some-jinn-in-2014/

"The horrific side of Eastern mythological folklore is coming to the U.S., as the supernatural horror film JINN has set a release date.

JINN (no relation to Tobe Hooper’s forthcoming DJINN) will open courtesy of Exxodus Pictures and Freestyle Releasing April 4, 2014. Written and directed by Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad, the film stars Dominic Rains (pictured above), Serinda Swan, Ray Park, Faran Tahir and William Atherton; here’s the pitch: “In the beginning, three were created. Man made of clay. Angels made of light. And a third made of fire. For centuries, stories of angels and men have captured the imagination and been etched into history crossing all boundaries of culture, religion and time. These two races have dominated the landscape of modern mythology, shrouding the evidence that a third was ever created. This third race, born of smokeless fire, was named the jinn. Modern man has all but forgotten this third race ever existed. It is time for him to remember.”