The Hindi film industry, reeling under the onslaught of pirates and extortionists, received yet another jolt with leading music director Nadeem, of the popular Nadeem-Shravan duo, being named by the police as the main conspirator in the Gulshan Kumar murder case. The police said Nadeem had hatched a conspiracy in Dubai in January 1997 to 'bump off' Gulshan Kumar as he felt that Kumar was intentionally ruining his career.
Top cinema personalities were not forthcoming with their comments on the latest development, which police claim has bared the nexus between the film industry and the underworld.
However, Hindi film industry sources said that the seventeen producers who had signed the duo for their forthcoming films were panicking. They said at least two top-notch film-makers were jittery about the development and were planning to replace the duo. Others preferred a more cautious approach and would decide after Nadeem's return from London, where he is on a holiday with his family. The Mumbai police has contacted the Interpol for Nadeem's deportation, joint commissioner of police (crime) R S Sharma said yesterday.
'We have already contacted Interpol's Delhi office', Sharma said.
Nadeem has not contacted the Mumbai police directly to intimate them about his arrival in India, but Sharma said 'there is information that he will come back'.
Asked whether Nadeem's property would be sealed if he did not come back, he said 'it will be done at a later stage'.
'We also have information that the duo had performed in Dubai on June 12 this year', he said.
'We have questioned Shravan, Anuradha Paudwal, Alka Yagnik and all those who were associated with Gulshan Kumar', Sharma said.
Gulshan Kumar had recently refused to market audio cassettes of 20 films for which the duo had composed the music, Sharma said. Meanwhile, the Hindi film industry is experiencing a severe cash crunch following the debacle of several big-budget movies last month.
At Naaz building, the hub of the film trade, there have been no major transactions. The cash crunch has hit all sectors of the trade with the financiers tightening their belts. No big projects have been announced in the last few days, sources said.
