Mumbai, January 8: It's the piece of news that Bollywood was dreading for nearly two weeks. News of moneybags Bharat Shah's arrest sent shivers down Bollywood's spine, though it stayed mum. But insiders admit that Shah's arrest has thrown the entire economics of the industry out of gear.Shah is currently financing more than 15 films, and police are also trailing finacier duo Jhamu and Harish Sugandh. The fate of as many as 20 big-budget films is on the chopping block. Another ten producers are also being targetted for sourcing finance from the underworld.According to sources in the film trade, Bharat Shah has an average of Rs 100 crore invested at any given time in Bollywood. Currently, approximately Rs 45 crore is invested in two of the year's biggest films alone - Rajkumar Santoshi's Lajja and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas. And about Rs 30 crore is riding on Mukesh Bhatt's Kasoor and K.C. Bokadia's Shah Rukh-Salman-Madhuri Dixit starrer Hum Aapke Hain Sanam, both scheduled for release in the frist quarter of 2001.Shah is also backing under-production films like producer Bubby Kent's untitled Salman Khan-Shilpa Shetty starrer and Mukesh Bhatt's two untitled films. He is to give Rs 10 crore or more to each of these films. Shah has reportedly even committed to financing the forthcoming films of film-makers R. Mohan and Ketan Desai.Police are also likely to interrogate stars for the exorbitant rates they have been charging. Stars were demanding and getting as much as Rs four crore as signing amounts, and some of them wanted distribution rights to lucrative territories in lieu of their remuneration.Shakti Samanta, president of the Film Federation of India, commented, ``Stars were asking for too much. Who else can give that much except the underworld?''
