Mumbai-based model Preeti Jain – who had once accused director Madhur Bhandarkar of raping her – was on Friday, April 28, convicted along with two others for paying gangsters to murder the National Award-winning filmmaker. Her conviction and the punishment – which includes prison term of three years and a Rs 10,000 fine – once again bares the unholy nexus between the Hindi film industry and the criminal underworld.
Crime and punishment
Preeti came into the spotlight in 2004 after she accused Bhandarkar of raping her on the pretext of giving her a film role. She approached the police with her accusation of the filmmaker indulging in the so-called practice of casting counch.
A year later, Preeti and two other people – both gangsters – allegedly plotted to have Bhandarkar killed. The duo has been identified as gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli's subordinate Naresh Pardeshi and the latter's aide Shivram Das. Preeti has also been convicted of giving the two Rs 75,000 to kill Bhandarkar. It also handed Preeti and one of the gangsters a prison term of three years.
However, Preeti quickly moved an application for bail, which was granted to her. Her sentence has been suspended for four weeks, after which she has to turn herself in.
Bollywood and underworld
Mumbai's criminal underbelly has long had a fascination with Bollywood. The Hindi film industry reciprocates that fascination by making films on the lives of noted gangsters and underworld dons.
The Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Deewar, released in 197,5 is often said to be loosely based on the life of Haji Mastan. Nearly three decades later, Ram Gopal Varma made Company, which again was said to be loosely based on the association and subsequent rift between Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan. There have been several other films on gangsters before that and since then. Gawli himself will be depicted in the film Daddy, starring Arjun Rampal.
The ugliness of the connection was more than apparent in the gunning -down of T-Series founder Gulshan Kumar. Director Rakesh Roshan was also shot at by unidentified gunmen. The conviction of Preeti Jain along with two other gangsters has once again shed light on this uglier side of the relationship between crime and films.
