Date: 8th January 2001

Does Mafia Control Bollywood?


A police official in Mumbai, India has told The Times of India that 60 percent of Bollywood movies are financed by the country's "mafia dons." The police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that as many as 20 recently released films may have been financed by one underworld figure, Chhota Shakeel, who operates out of Karachi, Pakistan.

In the meantime, a wealthy diamond merchant, Bharat Shah, has claimed that he and not Shakeel financed a movie, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, whose negative was seized by police following the arrest of its producer, Nasim Rizvi last month. Police at the time claimed that they had taped conversations between Rizvi and Shakeel that revealed that Shakeel had actually financed the film.

Source: Studio Briefing