A: The keywords to remember here: 'to mislead'.
The term 'Red Herring' is commonly used in Murder Mysteries to divert the suspicion from the actual Culprit.
In screenwriting terms, this refers to a clue that our Protagonist picks up on his way to finding the perpetrator. But this particular path he picks up would unfortunately stray him away from the real perpetrator.
e.g.
RATSASAN(2018)
Inbaraj character(played by Vinod Sagar) is a Red Herring in the Protagonist's quest to find the serial killer.
History of term Red Herring:
Couple of centuries ago, in England, the rich folks spent their leisure time hunting foxes. They would deploy their hounds(hunting dogs) and would chase the Fox riding their horses. But this was a pain in the butt for the poor farmers as the hunting trail passed through their fields. This caused severe damage to the crops. In order to safeguard the crops, the farmers would try to divert the hounds by using a smelly fish called Red herring.They would drag the fish across the field and then lead them elsewhere -far away from the crops.
'Red Herring' refers to this pungent smelling fish that was used to overpower the hunting dogs and send them down the wrong path by diverting them from the scent of prey.
©ScriptsAsylum, 2022
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