2001 romantic drama Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, directed by and starring Abbas-Mustan. Salman Khan, Preity Ribbonand Rani Mukerji, who is often remembered for introducing one of the first depictions of surrogacy in Bollywood, albeit in a rather wrong way. However, beyond its story, the film remains famous for its unexpected connection to Mumbai’s underworld, a connection initially unknown to financier Bharat Shah. Remembering the events, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varmawho produced Dil Se.. with Shah— shared how the project came together. He shared in a chat with Hussain Zaidi, “At one point, he (Bharat Shah) got a guy and told him that he has Salman Khan dates. So he said, “Okay, cool.” But since the guy had no film background and was not rich either, Bharat bhai called Salman,” said Varma. “Salman said, ‘Yes, I have given him the dates.’ That calmed Bharat bhai enough to give him the money and the movie Chori Chori Chupke Chupke started,” he added.Things took a turn when Shah later produced the film, Nazim Rizviallegedly had relations with underworld figure Chhota Shakeel. Varma explained Shah’s mindset at the time. He added, “After some time, the producer, Nazim Rizvi, came to know that he has some connection with Chhota Shakeel. But he thought he was doing some legal business, and if the producer has some underworld connection, how does that affect him? He is not even a criminal, but connected with a criminal.”The situation escalated when an unnamed businessman from the film industry received an extortion call demanding 5 crores. In desperation, she turned to Shah for help, hoping that Rizvi’s connection with Shakeel would solve the problem. When contact was made, the demand was negotiated down to 2 million.Soon, more people from the industry started approaching Shah for similar help. Although he helped others, Shah did not profit financially from these interventions. “But he wasn’t getting any money. He was just helping. But the police were tapping his phone,” Varma recalled, adding, “He was shaking with shock and fear. The cops suggested that maybe Shakeel was playing for you. So Bharat bhai said, ‘Why would he do it for me? I’m just a filmmaker.‘”In 2001, Shah and Rizvi were arrested by the Mumbai Police. Shah was convicted of failing to disclose Rizvi’s alleged underworld links and sentenced to a year in prison. However, having already been in prison for 14 months during the trial, he was immediately released. Meanwhile, Rizvi and his colleagues Abdul Rahim Allahbaksh Khan was found guilty of maintaining underworld connections and extorting members of the film industry. They were fined Rs 15 lakh and jailed for six years each.Before the controversy, Shah, also a famous diamond merchant, was one of the most influential financiers in Bollywood. As such, he supported the main banners Yash Raj FilmsDharma Productions, Dreamz Unlimited and later Red Chillies Entertainment. His co-production credits include films like ‘Darr’, ‘Yes Boss’, ‘Dil Se..’, ‘Pukar’, ‘Devdas’ and ‘Main Hoon Na’, including collaborations with filmmakers like Yash Chopra, Aziz Mirza, Mani Ratnam, Rajkumar Santoshi. Sanjay Leela Bhansaliand Farah Khan.
