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Journalism of Courage
In Bollywood where fact and fiction, illusion and reality sleep together, it becomes hard after a while to tell one from the other. So when the Mumbai police say they have reason to be suspicious about the source of funds for a shortly to be released Salman Khan starrer, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, it takes a while to realise this is no publicity agent’s stunt or outpouring of spite in a notoriously spiteful industry. A report in this paper says a Dubai connection is suspected. Even though the upfront financier is one of Bollywood’s biggest moneybags, Bharat Shah, it is thought Dawood Ibrahim’s lieutenant, Chhota Shakeel, has invested in the film. The word in Bollywood is that if Shah is behind a film, there is no need for other backers. But police suspicions have been aroused by some peculiar circumstances in the making of Chori Chori… and the antecedents of the producer. With the income tax department and the intelligence bureau being roped in to help with investigations, it looks like realcops and robbers stuff. Bollywood had better watch out. Chori Chori… is only one of several films covered by this multi-agency initiative.
One has to wonder how far these investigations will actually go and this is not only because of ill-fated previous probes into the murky world of entertainment industry finance. It does not seem very sensible to announce a chase before it has properly begun. And if the mafia is, as is said, a regular source of finance for films, music and soaps, it will know its onions. It is unlikely to have tagged and marked its money for the benefit of IT sleuths. Still, if the police are turning on the heat it may have the salutary effect of warning the industry not to play with fire. At the very least, with the police nosing around, the costs and risks of borrowing from the mafia will go up. The menace cannot be wiped out easily; it is worth trying to contain it. Occasional bursts of energy will not do the trick. It requires sustained police pressure in known mafia territory which is all the fields where black money in large quantities can be absorbed. Apart from the entertainment industry, mafia interests are known tobe concentrated in real estate and construction and, of course, in acquiring political friends.
