Feb 19/25, 2020 SOS to Mumbai DCP "Sushant's Life is at risk" !! But question remains, Did Mumbai police ignore such a forewarning ??

We are not going to sit quiet. We will question them (Mumbai Police) as to why such leads are hushed up,” Bihar DGP 

Sushant Singh Rajput's death --- just a crime out of greed of Rhea and her family ?

And what about the entire issue related to Nepotism menace ??

Why raising eyebrows on Mumbai police? Why a Bihar IPS officer put on 'quarantine' ??

Bihar Director General of Police (DGP) Gupteshwar Pandey has accused the Mumbai Police of not investigating the financial angle in the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. 

“In the past four years, around Rs 50 crore was credited to the bank account of Sushant Singh Rajput but surprisingly all of it was withdrawn. In one year, Rs 17 crore was credited to his account, out of which Rs 15 crore was withdrawn. Isn’t this a crucial point to be investigated?," the DGP has been quoted by a news agency! 

Earlier, the DGP had alleged that Vinay Tiwari, the Patna (Central) Superintendent of Police who has been sent from Bihar to lead the investigation, was ‘forcibly quarantined’ in Mumbai.

“Instead of sharing evidence or handing over the postmortem and forensic reports of Sushant, they (Mumbai) have almost house arrested our SP. I have not seen such non-cooperation by any other state police. 

Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh said in a press conference that no money was directly transferred from Sushant’s bank account to his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty’s account. 

Last month, Sushant’s father KK Singh filed an FIR against Rhea and her family, alleging abetment to suicide. 

In her sensational interview to Republic TV's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, Kangana Ranaut had called the probe as it was then a 'sham' as 4 key persons who should have been interrogated hadn't yet been called. Since then, Aditya Chopra & Rajeev Masand have had their statements recorded, while Mahesh Bhatt will now be called, and possibly also Karan Johar. 

Story changed after an FIR was filed at Patna and Bihar cops also landed in Mumbai.

Sushant's controversial partner Rhea Chakraborty and her family became major 'issue' in the entire debate.

Sushant Singh Rajput's father --- says "......kucch nahi kya" and this had compelled him to file a complaint with Patna police

Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut - known for being close to Chief Minister and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray - says: "I was watching a Raaj Kumar film and just recalled his famed dialogue that "those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. I like Raaj Kumar. Nobody should point fingers," Raut said with a telling smile.

The reference blockbuster film "Waqt" (1965) - "Jinke apne ghar sheeshe ke ho, Wo doosron par patthar nahi fenka karte" (actor Raj Kumar)

Does Sena leader tries to implicate political rivals or 'Bihar police' and 'Bihar government' ????

A whatsapp message from a Haryana police official to a Mumbai DCP on Feb 19 and Feb 25 (2020) has made things further complex

The theme of the message (as reported widely in TV channels) -- Sushant's Life is at risk !!

But the question remains, Did Mumbai police ignore such a forewarning from a senior cop from Haryana.

Amid demand for CBI probe and allegation that Mumbai police is stalling probe by Bihar police says - the Enforcement Directorate has registered a money laundering case (under PMLA) involving the death of Sushant Singh Rajput and the role played by actress Rhea. Accordingly on Aug 3, 2020, a team of the investigative agency reached the residence of Chartered Accountant Sandeep Sridhar and quizzed him.

According to a top ED official, Sridhar, the long-time Chartered Accountant of Sushant Singh Rajput, is being questioned about the financial transactions of the late actor.

Time is ticking; and time to act against ‘Nepotism’ in Bollywood

My piece in a Port Blair newspaper

New Delhi:

Suicide could be perhaps defined as a love affair with ambitions and success that has turned sour if not bitter. But somewhere I have also read that suicide is man’s or a person's way of telling the God, you cannot fire me, I quit!

Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide made news and also, importantly, opened a can of worms. Now, who all are looking for cover?

Some 'dynasts and manipulators' who thought life and glorious history of Indian cinema should be as they decide. I saw a video wherein three dynasts –name kept withheld deliberately – shamelessly giggling and screaming at an award ceremony ‘Nepotism thrives’! This only shows their arrogance, their indifference and their damn-care approach. Foolishness can be often given out as bravado ! That’s actually the irony of life and foolishness.

But what piece I am trying to offer this time? Nope, it’s not on suicides. Nor on how India can turnout into a hub of mental agony and loneliness due to coronavirus-infected troubles.

Typically, have not we read and learned to understand a vital fact that everyone hates the evil being !
The negative characters! Suicide is certainly one such chapter.

In Bollywood, negative protagonists on the screen have sometimes been a club of gems. It used to be said in Mumbai (or previously Bambai) that Pran – who epitomised a near untouchable villain – was one of finest persons in the Bollywood industry. Of course, I did not know Pran intimately even from a professional point of view. Though Pran sahab died 12 July, 2013; by the time I landed in Mumbai to work for a premier news agency, the iconic star had almost vanished into oblivion.

But when ‘negativity thrives’ – look at the manner the 'sickular and pro-China lobby' sang the song over LAC debacle and also Covid19 gloom – I thought, it could be in fitness of things to remember just a few loveable Bollywood baddies - people whom we all could never ignore; even if we despise them for their on screen roles.

Long before the appreciation by spin-masters started about Shah Rukh Khan for his success in ‘Baazigar’, ‘Darr’ and ‘Anjaam’ (wherein the protagonist is even admired for kicking Madhuri Dixit); the negative roles were not quite taboo for several stars in the past too.
Likes of Jeevan and Ajit would be always cherished and so would be roles by Premnath.

People, in fact, have fond memories of Amjad Khan’s ‘Kitney aadmi they’ and ‘Bahut yaarana lagta hae’ one-liners.

Amitabh Bachchan actually thrived with near-negative characters portrayed by him in ‘Deewar’ and ‘Trishul’. But this was also the time – the ugly pattern started in the film world. And thus I say, despite my immense admiration for ‘Vijay’ especially in ‘Deewar’– the films of that era tried to promote one set of artistes and characters those otherwise deserved to be painted black.

In ‘Deewar’ (1975) there was a classic case of efforts to glorify the role of dockyard don Haji Mastan. Mastan operated a powerful smuggling syndicate along the Gujarat coast and through Mumbai and later 'diversified' into film financing and real estate business. This marked the entry of rotten and ill-gotten money intothe film world.In fact Amitabh's first major success 'Zanjeer' had Pran portraying Karim Lala, leader of the Pathan gang and he was presented as an evil-turned-good soul protagonist.

A relevant campaign in Mizoram

A deliberate attempt was also made that other than a select group of ‘writers’, none could give the type of stories and songs those came up.

It was the beginning of the lobby culture. Some of them rightly made use of their religion and also cultivated political class too! They also easily grew friendlier to the 'dynasty political family' in Delhi, a few political parties and also the Left Liberals.

But look at the turn of events – no one would perhaps remember Amjad Khan’s son today – who also made an attempt to make a niche for himself in the industry but failed.

For that matter ‘Sholay’ director Ramesh Sippy too could not produce or direct a film of that calibre and entertainment value. But look at some of those ‘dharma-putras’ and people much younger and with the right surname with ‘K’ in it.

Some people are born lucky or ‘forcefully’ given the luck and allowed to be raised as cult figures!
Remember the infamous hit and run case in Mumbai and chasing the blackbuck in Rajasthan!

There is also a biopic on Sanjay Dutt, and one is not aware of such a biopic coming on the life and works of stars and also colourful characters like Amitabh Bachchan or Rajesh Khanna. Yes, the lobby seems to work everywhere !

Now most of these ‘stars’ with all kinds of lucky surnames and etc etc are feeling the heat of people's anguish due to one reason or another. Several of their films have flopped and so to regain popularity, they often try to use the names of Hindu Gods and epics! But these are also not successful.

Opportunism is an art in politics and thus one Sena leader in his enthusiasm has dismissed the entire theory of nepotism in Bollywood altogether. Of course, he cannot be speaking against 'dynasty' for he already has a talented ‘future deputy CM’ in his party !

Talking about villains in Bollywood, one cannot forget Prem Chopra, and his one of the noted dialogues.

“Mein wo bala jo sheshey se patthar tod doon (I can even break a stone with a glass piece)”. 
All negativity is not just bad! One feels sorry that Sushant Singh Rajput chose to end his life so early. 

All our prayers are with him and condolences for his family, but it is true that his tragic end has sparked a fantastic debate on push and pull of manipulators and dynasts. The debate should get us to a logical end.

Can Sushant's death help us to get to the rot?

And yes, there is a need to rethink how so many Pakistani stars make so easily in Bollywood ! 

I need not hate Pakistani stars, but when it comes to manipulation and nepotism, one can get angry easily!

If today, there is a lot of talk about nepotism and many first generation ‘outsiders’ are screaming out against discriminations – we can easily say there is no smoke without fire.

Can we then make a list of stars of the 1980s and 1990s era and also from later stages - who could have achieved much more given their talent and versatility, but who all fell prey to a dirty word called ‘politics’?

Manoj Bajpai was one whose role as ‘Bhikhu Matre’ in ‘Satya’ was near path breaking. A number of other stars also came up and could not carry on for long. Next in mind comes Jugal Hansraj. He put on a sensational performance in 'Papa Kaheten haen' and the song 'Ghar se nikalte hi'. As a child artist he showed his potential in 'Masoom' directed by Shekhar Kapur, who incidentally hit headlines after Sushant Singh Rajput's tragic end too.

Jugal's career was also short-lived. Starring opposite Monisha Koirala, Vivek Mushran in ‘Saudagar’ also had looked very promising, but he too could not continue for long.

So much has been the manipulation of spin-masters that in 2000 and at later stages, we had television channels also focusing day in and day out only on one variety of film stars, their songs and their films. The obvious influence of the nepotism culture could not be simply ignored!

At a filmi function in Mumbai, Ashutosh Rana, who played the role of Shabnam Mausi in the film based on a transgender social worker had raised the bogey of talent and dynastic nepotism in Bollywood. Rana showed his potentials in several films but probably he too faced discrimination!

On the other hand, look at the glorification of a star called Sanjay Dutt and how everyone under the sun seemed to have forgotten the charges he faced. The Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav – largely at the influence of Amar Singh – in 2008 also made a political joke of the decade when Dutt was made the party general secretary ! What did a party claiming to uphold values of socialism and political principles of Ram Manohar Lohia and Jayaprakash Narayan achieved in the process remains a mystery.