Hello, Godfather?

For many innocent years, Bollywood films only took inspiration from the shenanigans of those who were on the wrong side of law. Then, stories began to be based on them, some with remarkable characterisations giving Indian cinema films that are top class. Now, the trend is to capture that world on camera and tell the story of the underworld itself. Somewhere along the way, the two worlds have got entwined, all mixed up. The underworld finds Bollywood too glamourous to resist and too lucrative to stay out of, sections of Bollywood find the underworld too useful or scary to ignore.

So, Bharat Shah was caught talking to Dawood Ibrahim aide Chhota Shakeel, settling an amount that was clearly to be paid against an extortion threat. Sanjay Dutt was similarly caught talking to Shakeel and getting his friends to chat too. Somewhere during that chat, references were made to Preity Zinta and Salman Khan among others. Shakeel talks of how he couldn8217;t harass Zinta for extortion money when he has paid her to work in his film, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, the film that landed presenter Shah and producer Nasim Rizvi in jail under the dreaded Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act MCOCA last year. During the hearing of this case, the Mumbai police presented the Shakeel-Dutt tape-recorded conversation.

It had been referred to last year in other courts as well, including the Supreme Court where Shah8217;s star counsel, Kapil Sibal, expanded on it. The transcripts of this conversation have been around almost as long as Shah was in jail. Dutt was clearly in contempt of court over his bail conditions, yet he has been at large. He was summoned to the Crime Branch last year along with 30-odd personalities, including stars, who figure in the conversation to record their statements. He did not make the visit, almost everyone else did.

These tapes are among the 32 of the 71 tapes given to the court. And, there are whispers suggesting that the police have acted in a partisan manner to reveal these tapes at this stage, that Dutt8217;s name has been thrown up now as if he were the only Bollywood star to talk to Shakeel. But Mumbai police commissioner M.N. Singh says: 8216;8216;There is nothing partisan. Why would we give the tapes out? They are public document, part of court proceedings. Besides, they were made available to the defence counsel.8217;8217; That means Shah8217;s counsel. 8216;8216;Those looking for answers must find out whose interest would be best served by publicising this conversation now,8217;8217; he says. Shah, of course, denies it all.

Irrespective of the legal implications for Dutt, who is awaiting judgement in the Mumbai serial blasts case, they have brought back the spotlight bang on the relationship between the underworld and Bollywood, and it8217;s political implications. Sunil Dutt, Congress MP and Sanjay8217;s father, was just setting off on his peace mission when the conversation became a matter of public discussion. If nothing, it8217;s embarrassing to him and his party, besides being a personal setback.

The larger issue to be addressed is: at a time when film financing has been opened up to traditional sources of funds like banks, is it possible for Bollywood to shrug off the menacing tentacles of the underworld? Perhaps not, because when the dons want a piece of the distribution pie in terms of overseas rights and music rights and so on, the tentacles run in different directions and very deep. It8217;s no longer a simple tale of the good and the bad; it8217;s become ugly. Very ugly.