After all the alleged underworld links and threats to Bollywood biggies, musicians are on the gangsters' radar. Singer Arijit Singh is its latest victim. By TEAM VIVA
Bollywood actor and actresses’ alleged underworld links resurface now and then with pictures (usually from the 80s and 90s) splashed over the news world. Many, including film directors like Boney Kapoor and Rakesh Roshan, have filed complaints and beefed up their security following threats from goons, extortion calls and attacks. The nexus has also led to incarceration of actors like Sanjay
Dutt’s (in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts).
However the underworld's fascination with B-town has now extended to its singers/musicians ever since they have begun signing multi-crore deals. The latest in line is playback singer Arijit Singh who has been threatened by gangster Ravi Pujari to pay `5 crore. When Pujari was told that Singh would not be able to pay the amount, the former then told him to do a couple of shows organised by his men instead.
Pujari is notorious from attempting to extort money from Salman Khan, Akshay Kuman, et al. Arijit confirmed the matter via an official statement to the media.
“I generally don’t answer unknown numbers. That day when Ravi Pujari called, my phone was off and he called my manager. He told me he wants to talk to me and made a conference call. By then, I got to know from him that he was asking a ridiculous amount of money. But over the phone, he was talking like a gentleman and asked me if I could sing songs for him. He told me to be in touch.”
An online news portal reported that according to Singh, a certain promoter wanted to handle Singh’s forthcoming US tour in September
Singh decided not to go with this particular promoter because he kept “bargaining for a lower budget”. This promoter used his connections and got in touch with Pujari to get his work done.
Musician luke Kenny was taken aback by the incident and told us that he’s been fortunate enough to have never been threatened by such elements. “Arijit is such a beautiful singer and this was completely uncalled for. This is very shocking. Negotiations have been a part of business especially when the sponsors don’t have much of a budget. That is the most professional manner of dealing with money issues,” said the Rock On!! actor.
Aditya Singh aka Badshah of Saturday Saturday fame, too, was stunned at the news. “My association is with the Sony Music India and everything is done cordially. We’ve never faced any issues and even the negotiations are carried out very smoothly. As an artiste I am not very much involved in any of the management’s work but they keep me informed and we’ve never faced any problems on this front,” the rapper shared.
Adman Prahlad Kakkar recounted a similar experience when he became a target of an underworld gang. He said, "It happened to me 10 years ago when I was working a film on Pakistan. They gave me a reason that as you are working on a film based in Pakistan, you need to send us money. When I told then that I won't, they turned up at my office and threatened everyone." He added that he took the matter to police and the Home Ministry and "that was also the time when Mumbai police was known for their encounters and they shot dead all the ones involved."
He blamed the moolah as the reason behind such cases. "If you are doing well in your life then people are surely going to be jealous. If you have money and if I don't have it then I will find means to extract money from you. If you have white money, you can easily say no them, but the problem arises when they know that you have black money and hence the demands are made," he said.
He also narrated another attack incident involving Manhohan Shetty, founder of Adlabs, who was shot in a similar case but was lucky enough to escape.
On the Arijit Singh episode, Kakkar said it is not about a singer or an actor. “This has happened to almost all of us. There have been many times when the details of a person's accounts have been leaked and hence, the person has received extortion calls,” he shared.
He again stressed on the point that when they know you have black money in abundance, this is the best way they get it out of you.
Arijit didn't feel the need to get police protection after Pujari’s call even though reports indicate that following a statement by the singer’s manager at the Oshiwara police station here, the officials made a diary entry of the matter.
The Ilahi singer does not want the matter to be hyped in the media.
“It's a humble request to media to stop bothering me about news. There are other important things happening in India. (sic)” he tweeted.
With inputs from agencies