The reality of fantasy IT S ANTI-cathartic time for the dream merchants of Bollywood. With not many box office hits in year 2000 to boost its sagging morale, it s going to be a bleak New Year for the multi-crore Mumbai film industry. One of its top financiers is behind bars for his alleged links with the underworld.
Several films are on hold.
Another producer of a multi-starrer is also cooling his heals in the prison, while his film has been canned. Several stars might be asked to testify before the police, though none of them are, as yet, charged with complicity. With Bharat Shah s arrest, the entertainment industry has fallen on real bad days. A diamond merchant and financier, Shah has been booked by the Mumbai police under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. While more than 30 films might get stuck in the near future, a lot of sleaze will now flow from the celluloid pot-boilers onto the front pages of the media.