Date: 10th January 2001

Indian Director Recognizes Underworld Ties To Bollywood


Award-winning Indian film director Mahesh Bhat has told the BBC that "a sizable section" of people within the Indian film industry have underworld connections. Interviewed on BBC World's Asia Today program Tuesday, Bhat suggested that many of those with ties to criminal figures may have been threatened. "Maybe they are terrorized into having connections, maybe they feel that is perhaps an easy way out because how an individual chooses to behave when he gets a threat call is completely upon him and the kind of mental makeup he has." He said that police have been effecting raids on film producers even as prints are being struck at labs. "So, obviously there's something serious here, not something you can joke around with," he added.

Source: Studio Briefing