'Bollywood producers danced to Salem’s tune'

Mumbai Mirror / Nov 13, 2005, 10:54 IST

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According to investigators such was his fear in filmdom, that directors often read out scripts to bhai over the phone and made changes to storylines as per his wishes.

'Bollywood producers danced to Salem’s tune'

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In the 24 hours thatganglord Abu Salem has been in Mumbai and in the custody of the Central Bureauof Investigation, what has emerged through his interrogation is his deep linksin Bollywood film financing.Salem has revealed a list of films heeither produced through his point-men in Mumbai or secured rights to distributeoverseas. Mumbai Mirror has in its possession the first draft of this list,which names 15 films, three of which are yet to be released. New names are beingadded as Salem's interrogation proceeds and a senior CBI officer said the finalcount would be in the region of 80 to 90.The films listed so farare: Raju Chacha, Hum Kisise Kam Nahin, Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega, Vaastav,Bulundi, Mahanta, Khilona, Milan, Gopi Kishan, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Fateh,Kagaar and yet-to-released Dushmani, Mere Jeevan Sathi and God Tussi GreatHo.(##includemsid=43376741,type=11 ##)

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Between 1990 and 2002,when Salem held complete sway over Bollywood, he not only invested hisill-gotten wealth into producing films, but also forced producers to part withoverseas rightspromoted actors and directors of his choice. Such was hisfear in filmdom, that directors often read out scripts to the don over the phoneand made changes to storylines as per his wishes.As the list the CBIhas compiled so far suggests, some of Bollywood��s top producers anddirectors danced to Salem��s tune and some of the biggest stars worked infilms financed by him.

Hum Kissi Se Kum Nahin, produced in 2002 byAfzal Khan, was directed by David Dhawan. The film starred Amitabh Bachchan,Sanjay Dutt, Aishwarya Rai and Ajay Devgan. Raju Chahcha was produced by AjayDevgan's Devgan Entertainment Limited and was directed by his cousin, AnilDevgan. Rishi Kapoor, Ajay Devgan and Kajol acted in the film.RajKanwar-directed Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega was produced by Sajid Nadiadwala andstarred Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee and Preity Zinta.Vaastav, whichput director Mahesh Manjrekar in the top bracket overnight, starred Sanjay Duttand Namrata Shirodkar. ChoriChori Chupke Chupke, which led to the arrest of film financer and diamondmerchant Bharat Shah and producer Nazim Rizvi, was directed by Abbas-Mustan andstarred Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Preity Zinta and AmrishPuri.Yet-to-be released Mere Jeevan Saathi, which has been ready forsome time now, stars Akshay Kumar and Karishma Kapoor. God Tussi Great Ho, whichmarks the debut of popular script writer Rumi Jaffery as director, is producedby Afzal Khan.Abu Salem, who became the most dreaded name in theMumbai film industry after Gulshan Kumar killing on August 12, 1997, fell outwith his mentor Dawood in 1999 partly bacause of his handling of thegang��s film finance business. He, however, continued financing filmsindependently.Twoof his main pointmen in Bollywood were Mukesh Duggal, killed in 1997, and BobbyAnand. However, Anand denies any connections with Abu Salem saying, "There isno truth in these reports. All such allegations are false andbaseless."Deputy Commissioner of Police, Dhananjay Kamlakar, said:"Our main priority is the two cases that the CBI listed before the Portugalgovernment. Later, we will investigate Salem��s connections, network,frontmen and modus operandi for financing Bollwwood movies."

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