ax authorities have impounded the luxury cars of top Bollywood stars in a crackdown on ostentatious wealth that has seen the rich and famous scurrying for cover in the country's cities.
This weekend Sanjay Dutt, known for his street-tough roles, saw his Porsche towed away by the authorities. Earlier Suniel Shetty, a pumped-up actor, was charged with non-payment of duty on his Hummer, the civilian version of the Humvee, used by the US military. Mr Shetty says he paid 7m rupees (£95,000) for the car. The government has seized 45 such vehicles, including top-end Toyota Prados, LandCruisers, BMWs and Jaguars.
It is not just wealthy actors who have been caught in the net. The son of a prominent communist leader had to hand over the keys of two of his SUVs. Many are exclusive marques, costing more than £150,000, as India levies a 100% luxury tax on high-end motor vehicles not made in the country.
Tax officials, however, say they have uncovered a ring of dealers who have evaded these charges by using a loophole designed to promote the tourist industry. Tour operators are exempted because they need luxury cars to cater for foreign tourists. It appears some wealthy Indians are paying travel agencies to import the luxury cars they want; the ownership of the vehicle is changed later.
Motor manufacturers are increasingly eyeing the Indian market. In recent months Rolls-Royce has opened a dealership and BMW has announced plans for a plant in Tamil Nadu. Last year a chewing tobacco baron paid £600,000 for a German-made Maybach for his daughter. Bollywood movie fans will soon be able to download full-length features with the file-sharing software Kazaa.
A deal struck between a partner of Sharman Networks Ltd, the company which owns Kazaa, and IndiaFM.com, a popular entertainment site, will allow Indian film producers to distribute movies, music and other large, rich media files online to an estimated 60 million international Kazaa users.
The move follows a pilot scheme in November when Bollywood thriller Supari was offered for sale at US$2.99 (£1.69) and promoted through Kazaa prior to its release in India. The file was designed to self destruct after being watched and could not be copied.
India's film industry, dominated by Bombay's Hindi-language hit factory, churns out about 1,000 features every year. This deal is expected to bypass the complicated and expensive film distribution system in the country.
This film is apparently meaningless, but if it has any meaning it is doubtless objectionable.
—British Board Of Film Censors. Quoted in Halliwell’s Filmgoer’s Companion (1984)
But with internet users numbering only about 10 million out of India's population of a billion, it is the 20 million Indians overseas who will be the short-term beneficiaries this deal.com/editorials/12-23-2003-48876.asp --> Police in India's financial and film capital bugged the telephone of one of Bollywood's biggest stars because they suspected him of links with the city's crime syndicates.
RR Patil, the home minister of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is the capital, said that the police had learned in August 2001 that Abu Salem, who is accused of masterminding a series of bomb blasts in 1993 in the city, was allegedly being contacted on the telephone of Salman Khan, a pumped-up but hugely popular hero of modern Indian cinema.
Mr Khan's telephone line was then put under surveillance for two months.
The news comes days after an Indian newspaper revealed taped telephone conversations that allegedly show strong ties between the film industry and organised crime in Mumbai. Recorded in 2001, the tapes allegedly show Mr Khan repeatedly boasting of his association with the underworld to Aishwariya Rai, a former Miss World who has recently broken into Hollywood.
On the tape, a male voice threatens "Ash" with dire consequences if she does not participate in a show organised by Mr Salem.
Indian television channels have broadcast the tape, claiming that the voice is that of Mr Khan. Both Mr Khan and Ms Rai insist that the tape is not genuine. Supporters of Mr Khan say the emergence of the four-year-old tape, timed to coincide with the premiere of his latest film, is a deliberate attempt to ruin the movie's prospects.
Both Mr Khan and Ms Rai have had voice samples recorded by the police. These and the tape have been sent to a laboratory to determine whether they match. The results are due in a fortnight.
The state government has promised to take action against the actor if links with criminals are established.
Being at the centre of a film is a burden one takes on with innocence—the first time. Thereafter, you take it on with trepidation.
—Daniel Day Lewis (b. 1957)
There have long been rumours that Mumbai's crime syndicates have used Bollywood to launder their ill-gotten gains. Those suspicions were partly confirmed two years ago when a film financier, Bharat Shah, was found guilty by a court of threatening actors with the help of a gangster to force them to work on his film Chori Chori, Chupke Chupke.
Analysts say that episode shook up the industry. "Since the Shah exposé, people have been a lot more careful. But these things [also] happened in early Hollywood, when the mob financed films," said Bharti Pradhan, the editor of Moviemag International.
Most film stars have kept silent over the issue. However, Jackie Shroff, one of the older generation of Bollywood actors, has publicly claimed that criminals control the industry.
"Cine stars are supermen only on the screens, but in real life we are common persons," he said. "If we disobey the orders of the underworld, the lives of our family members will be under threat, and if we obey [them] the administration will be after us."
Mr Khan, one of the most popular Bollywood stars, is no stranger to controversy. Later this month, he will face a court case for alleged involvement in a hit-and-run incident.
The rocky relationship between Ms Rai, who recently starred in the British hit Bride and Prejudice, and Mr Khan has also made news for all the wrong reasons.
There have been accusations of ill-treatment and Ms Rai's current beau, her fellow actor Vivek Oberoi, has accused Mr Khan of making threatening telephone calls to him. Mr Khan denies all the allegations. amit narange.