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COVER
STORY: CRIME
Bollywood
Body Blow
The arrest
of leading film financier and diamond merchant Bharat Shah for his underworld
links shakes Bollywood and the stock markets but a twist in the plot could
cleanse the funding of movies
By
Sheela Raval with Anupama
Chopra
This
wasn't part of the plot. On the morning of January 8, when Bollywood badshah
and diamond don Bharat Shah received a phone call from the Mumbai Police,
he was brashly defiant. "Tumko kya lagta tha, main bhag jaoonga?"
he asked Assistant Commissioner of Police Shankar Kamble. "Main
bhagnewalon mein se nahin hoon."
 |
| Dressed
in his trademark flowery shirt, Shah drove into the Mumbai Crime Branch
Office at 1 p.m. in the more prosaic Maruti 1000 |
Shah had
returned the same weekend from a business trip abroad. Rumours about his
impending arrest had been floating for a fortnight since the arrest of
film producer Nazim Rizvi and even the police weren't sure that he would
return. But Shah's confidence in his own power proved misplaced. He walked
into a trap.
Dressed
in his trademark flowery shirt, Shah drove into the Mumbai Crime Branch
office at 1 p.m., not in his usual BMWs but the more prosaic Maruti 1000.
The five interrogating officers started out gently and Shah, having faced
two grillings recently, remained poker-faced and cool. The civility lasted
about 10 minutes. Then the police pulled out their trump card. And Shah,
used to seeing his jolly face in umpteen photographs and television channels,
suddenly heard himself on tape. He was talking business with Karachi-based
mafia don Chhota Shakeel. His bravado collapsed. A few questions later,
the police informed him that he was under arrest, took him to the Sessions
Court and remanded him to custody till January 18.
Shah, 56,
who lives in a palatial apartment with a tennis court and swimming pool
in Mumbai's Walkeshwar and begins each day wondering which one of his
diamond-studded Piaget watches to wear and which one of his trendy BMWs
to drive, is now sleeping in a 10 ft-by-10 ft room. He has been allowed
food from home but there is no bathroom or mattress. The nights are chilly
and the days are long. And Shah, who was hospitalised earlier for chest
pain, looks bewildered and lost.
What are
the charges against him? Shah has been booked under the Maharashtra Control
of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) for aiding and abetting Shakeel's activities.
Under the draconian law, he can be kept in custody for over a year. The
charges against Shah are non-bailable and he has appealed to the High
Court.
The drama
started last month when the police arrested Rizvi, producer of the film
Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (CCCC), under the same charges. CCCC is being
financed by Shah. Although the taped evidence, which was used against
Rizvi, had references to a financier called "BS", Shah vehemently
swore innocence, saying that he had invested Rs 12.75 crore in the film
and every penny was accounted for.
The police
have a different story to tell. They have two separate tape recordings.
The first, recorded on November 20 last year at 6.20 p.m, has Rizvi talking
to Shakeel about his meeting with financier BS and the various business
proceedings with him. Shakeel is also told that Bhatija, a middle-man
from Dubai who had delivered money earlier, would do so again. In the
second conversation, recorded on November 24 at 3 p.m., Rizvi talks again
to Shakeel about money, BS and satellite rights. He quotes the figure
"five" as a code word. He also informs Shakeel about financial
arrangements-that $50,000 (Rs 23 lakh) will be delivered on Monday, Wednesday
or Friday and that the same will continue per week after CCCC is released.
Rizvi further informs the don that BS has made arrangements to send $50,000
to Shakeel through Bhatija. The tape also contains Shah and Shakeel conversing
directly and discussing business. Shah's arrest was followed by police
and CBI raids on his various premises, including companies where he is
a partner-B4U and srkworld.com. The raids have yielded incriminating evidence,
which may further tighten the noose around Shah's neck.
Until now,
Bollywood and the underworld shared a shady business alliance that for
the most part, remained on the periphery. Extortion and murder made headlines
earlier but the Rizvi-Shah chapter has added a new dimension. This is
the first time that a person of Shah's standing in Bollywood has come
under serious suspicion. Of course, the question is why would a man estimated
to run businesses worth about Rs 2,000 crore be involved with the underworld?
Investigative agencies suspect that the mafia has been critical in helping
Shah rise to this stature. They allege that the mafia used him as a foothold
to both legitimise their money and invest it in lucrative businesses.
Bollywood,
at least for now, isn't buying this. Says Mahesh Bhatt: "Pressure
can work on anyone. What is the choice?" Diamond traders in Shah's
hometown, Palanpur, where he is known as Daanvir (Generous One), echoes
Bhatt. Says Shailesh Mehta: "It is simply unbelievable that a man
of his wealth would voluntarily join hands with the underworld for money.
He can only do it because of fear." Adds producer Pahlaj Nihalani:
"Bharatbhai is a regular Bollywood financier. We are worried and
concerned."
The film
world has reasons to grieve. Shah is Hindi cinema's one-man industry.
Bollywood calls him Bharat bhai. But unlike the underworld bhais, he was
a benevolent brother. Shah, who seems to like cinema as much as he likes
being photographed, doled out crores to needy filmmakers. Everybody, from
Bollywood royalty like the Kapoors to independent directors like Sunhil
Sippy, made movies with Shah's help and Shah has invested Rs 300-odd crore
in over 40 films.
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