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CRIME: BOLLYWOOD-DRUG LINKS
It's Hip And Happening
Denials apart, snorting
coke has been part of life in tinsel town. On reel, scriptwriters ensure
that good eventually triumphs over evil but in reality, it's typically
Jekyll and Hyde. Drugs in Bollywood have come a long way from the days
of discreet use by a select few in the early 1970s. In the following decade,
rising star Sanjay Dutt confessed to have fallen prey to them while his
mother was dying, but cleaned up his act after spending years in rehabilitation
abroad. In the 1990s, doing coke and a host of other drugs-ecstasy, speed,
LSD, among others-became an open secret. Today, it's hip and happening.
Cocaine is the hot favourite because it is said to take you to cloud nine
within 15 seconds. "It's instant gratification," says psychiatrist
Harish Shetty. Adds Dr Yusuf Merchant, an anti-drugs activist: "There
is also the belief that it enhances stage performance, helps cope with
stress and makes for the ultimate lifestyle statement."
A typical coke party in Mumbai takes place on
a Saturday night in a sprawling farmhouse, beach bungalow or swanky apartment.
A chocolate hero dressed in black swaggers into a room with like-minded
folks and takes his place at a centre table on which a small mound of
"nose candy" is kept. He deftly cuts the pile of candy into
little lines with a knife and looks around him, a winner's smile on his
face. Rolling up a Rs 1,000 note, he snorts a line of coke. And the night,
as they say, begins.
Expensive rave parties with frenzied pill-popping,
techno and trance beats are also common. It was at one such do thrown
by Ajay Shah, film producer Bharat Shah's nephew, two years ago that the
Mumbai Police swooped down on high-profile film and fashion personalities.
It was a hush-hush affair in which the celebrities were whisked away through
the back door. Ever since, the police have been on their toes, tailing
a growing number of suspected drug users.
According to the NCB, drug connections in the
movie world are at two levels: retail consumption and film financing.
"It's an alarming trend," says Ubale. "The use of drugs,
particularly cocaine, is on the rise in Bollywood." For one, the
film world is seen as a big retail opportunity by the drug cartel and,
as with extortionists and smugglers, drug pushers too need to reinvest
their money. The movie industry, with its open-door policy for cash transactions,
is a haven. Even when news of Fardeen's arrest spread, the first reaction
came from financiers and producers who clutched their hearts and wallets.
He has signed on for about a dozen films, they said, and is booked until
2003.
Currently, the bureau is working on seven leads
on major drug pushers who are believed to be financing films as well as
maintaining close links with Bollywood's denizens. In at least two cases,
it has acted against peddlers who have family connections in the film
world: Bhaitola Khan, a relative of a well-known dialogue writer and character
actor, and an actress-turned-VJ's aunt was also caught with a small consignment
of coke. A choreographer's husband believed to have connections in Dubai
is also being closely watched.
Similarly, the gem and jewellery trade, which
is connected with the film industry, also finds mention in the NCB's records.
A big-time drug trafficker who used his diamond export firm as a front
has a partner who is a film producer. The diamond merchant was caught
by the bureau in 1996 but managed to jump bail and escape to Dubai. The
partner, however, started his own film finance company and is still making
films.
"But why malign the film industry alone
when drugs are a part of our culture?" asks director Mahesh Bhatt.
"At any given moment, our sadhus and fakirs consume more illegal
drugs than the bad boys of Bollywood." It doesn't absolve any of
them but Bhatt has a point. If only the police could net the big fish
elsewhere as well.
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