It is a story that just does not seem to go away. Despite murders, jail terms and unsavoury publicity, the nexus between Bollywood and the underworld appears to get stronger and stronger with each passing year. In fact, if anything what the recently publicised transcripts of the infamous Sanjay Dutt-Chotta Shakeel tapes revealed is that the familiarity on both sides has grown rather than diminished. Looking back, it does not seem at all illogical that such a nexus should have developed in the first place. That it took root and expanded is perhaps due to the nature and the specific problems faced by both Bollywood and the underworld over the last couple of decades. Since the time of Haji Mastan, the underworld has always flirted with films. In those days, however, contact was restricted and the underworld was perceived as a bit of a diversion rather than a threat. A film director, for instance, described running into Amirzada and his cronies, allies of Karim Lala and members of one of Mumbai’s most dreaded Pathan gangs, at a recording session and finding them standing in a corner self-consciously while others in the studio tittered about their flamboyant dress sense and crude mannerisms. Yet gangsters were fascinated by Bollywood. I took a well-known but arty filmmaker once to meet an underworld contact. Within five minutes the latter, till then the soul of caution, was bragging about the crimes he had committed, his methods of torture and so on. Towards the end of the meeting came the predictable request: ‘‘I have a brother, he’s not bad looking. If you have a chotta motta role..’’ The underworld’s fascination with Bollywood was understandable. For the average gangster, badly educated and little exposed to the world, Bollywood represented the height of glamour and achievement. Moreover, the chaotic and unprofessional ways of the film industry, with large amounts of unaccounted money, was the perfect playground for him in the legitimate world. Equally understandable was Bollywood’s fascination with the underworld. Criminals have always provided fodder for stories apart from reflecting social trends. Bollywood’s cosy relationship with the underworld points to a moral crisis In the late seventies, the dramatic arrest of several smugglers during the Emergency and their subsequent release and ‘reformation’ before Jayaprakash Narayan, in a sense legitimised the interest and spawned a spate of films and extensive press coverage. With the violent gang wars that followed, the interest intensified. Raakh, Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro, Nayakan, Satya, and a host of other films, explored the gangster psyche with varying degrees of accuracy and success. The underworld as a subject was tempting for many filmmakers also because it made the rare combination of realism and popular appeal possible. Till the late eighties, the relationship between Bollywood and the underworld was one of mutual fascination tinged with awe. Some time around then, however, things began to change. The film industry saw the beginning of its bleakest period following the video invasion and the opening up of new markets — for video rights for instance — in an environment of illegality created by practices such as piracy, gave the criminal world more than a foot in the door. Desperation, fear, greed, competition — all these have played a role in increasing the underworld’s influence in the film industry. But Bollywood’s refusal to adapt to the inevitable changes brought about by the media revolution; its refusal to turn professional, despite repeated doomsday predictions and its continued insistence on propping up an unviable star system, have also contributed in no small measure to its ever-increasing vulnerability to the underworld. But that one could say is Bollywood’s problem and leave it at that till the next scandal pops up, as it inevitably will. The fact is this is not a mere law and order problem; a matter of containing threats, affixing guilt and arranging protection (for those who will squeal). No, Bollywood’s cosiness with the underworld points to something worse: a moral crisis. There is a point at which a filmmaker’s interest in crime can become an unhealthy fascination, when he or she obliterates the ethical filter through which it is viewed. Underworld figures have always sought to bring about that sort of amnesia by casting themselves in the role of godfathers and engaging in religious or cultural activities. Today, however, even a facade has been rendered unnecessary by the increasingly widespread social acceptance of crime and criminals. The tapes shocked many of us for the convivial nature of the conversation, the extreme deference displayed by Dutt and his friends towards the gangster, the easy familiarity, the absence really of any apparent inhibition or dividing line. This is a wider social problem. Bollywood is just a convenient entry point.
