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In the late 90s and early 2000s, the Mumbai underworld made inroads into the world of films. The connection between the mafia and the Hindi film industry dates back to the 1960s, when Haji Mastan would often be seen socialising with the biggest stars of that era, such as Dilip Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar. Later, when Dawood Ibrahim became the most feared gangster in Mumbai, his associates were known to pressure film stars into doing movies for them. The attempt was to convert black money into white. The Bollywood-underworld nexus was properly exposed during the making of the 2003 film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, directed by Abbas-Mustan and starring Salman Khan, Preity Zinta, and Rani Mukerji.
Preity was the only one who testified against the underworld in the ensuing trial, while all other witnesses turned hostile. At a 2018 India Today event, she reflected on the scary experience. “For the record, if I knew that everyone was going to back out, I also would have. It was a scary time in my life. I should have been protected. Whatever I said in court was on TV ten minutes later,” she recalled, making a reference to her colleagues turning hostile, and going on to mention the assassination attempt on filmmaker Rakesh Roshan’s life.
She continued, “I don’t think there was anything happening on that set. But there was definitely fear going around. Because Rakesh ji (Roshan) had been shot. Everyone was paranoid. People would keep their phones switched off, worried that they will get a call.” She added, “I was fine till they were scaring me, but once they started abusing, I lost it. I can take stress, but not people abusing me. I learnt that if you get a call from +92, don’t pick up! Luckily I was famous. Had I not been, it would’ve been tough. They all said why did you have to be the one to do all this?’ But my way of thinking was different. I didn’t have a family, I didn’t have children.”
Because of her testimony, several individuals involved in the film were arrested. Chhota Shakeel’s henchman Anjum Fazlani, who was arrested in connection with the case, was acquitted in 2010. “Even Salman Khan, who had deposed before the court in March could not identify Fazlani, and he was declared hostile,” the accused’s lawyer, Prakash Shetty, told Hindustan Times. During the trial, Salman is said to have suggested that he may or may not have met Fazlani, but couldn’t recall. In 2003, the Special Court in Mumbai convicted financier Bharat Shah and sentenced him to a year in prison. But Shah walked free because he’d already spent 14 months in custody.
His co-producer Nazim Rizvi was reportedly the man who was sent by Chhota Shakeel to sign Salman and other stars for the film. Salman would later go on to testify that he wasn’t under any pressure. According to journalist Hussain Zaidi’s book Dongri to Dubai: Six Decades of the Mumbai Mafia, Rizvi made many unsuccessful attempts at getting Salman on board, and Fazlani was assigned the job only because Rizvi failed. Based on the information that the Mumbai police accessed by tapping the phones of suspects, it was discovered that the underworld had code names for Bollywood personalities. Bharat Shah was ‘BS’, Salman was ‘Pehelwan’, and Shah Rukh Khan, who managed to give Rizvi the slip several times, was ‘Hakla’.
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Zaidi wrote in his book, “Rizvi also would regularly visit Salman and say politely, ‘Excuse me, Salman Khan. Could you please speak to Shakeel bhai?’ The muscular movie star did not take him seriously at all and snubbed him regularly. Rizvi was very often dragged kicking and screaming to the gates and kicked off the set by the security guards there.” After Rizvi failed one too many times, Fazlani was sent to secure Salman’s services. “Fazlani walked in and handed the phone over to Salman, telling him that Shakeel was on the line and wished to speak with the actor. Salman took the phone and found himself backed into a corner, with no possible way to deny Shakeel his demands. Salman was forced to work in the film Chori Chori Chupke Chupke . Shakeel funded it, pumping 15 crore rupees into this first venture. It was later established that Salman, Rani, Abbas-Mustan, and the others had participated in the film under duress as their lives were in danger and so, they were not detained further, nor were charges filed against them,” Zaidi wrote.
The release of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke was delayed due to the investigation, but the movie was eventually released in theatres some months later. It earned moderately positive reviews, which singled out Preity’s performance as a sex worker-turned-surrogate. According to Zaidi, Chhota Shakeel pumped Rs 15 crore into the project, via Bharat Shah and Rizvi. According to a Guardian report, Rizvi was also accused of trying to kill Hrithik Roshan, who was code-named ‘Chikna’, and his producer father Rakesh, code-named ‘Takla’.
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