HYDERABAD: Mafia money, casting couch and drug abuse, the not-so-glamorous aspects of the glamour world, are such open secrets they no longer raise any eyebrows. Except perhaps when the address changes from the fast-paced tracks of Bollywood to Tollywood. The arrest of film producers Singanamala Ramesh Babu and C Kalyan in connection with the murder of a gangster has begun to unravel the industry’s underworld links. It has revealed how some producers use their underworld friends to threaten genuine financiers in a bid not to repay money after a film is released. “Ramesh Babu, Suri and Bhanu Kiran used to intimidate financiers to loan them huge amounts of money to finance films their films,” says S V Ramana Murthy, additional director general of police, CID. “The extortion racket in Tollywood is mainly operated by ‘factionists’ from Rayalaseema who have settled in the city,” he adds. A senior official told Express that a number of producers, film distributors and even a couple of popular actors have been victims of their extortion. “However, none of them registered a complaint with the police and preferred to buy peace by paying the extortion amount,” says the official. It was only after the murder of Suri that several others mustered the courage to complain about the extortion. Mohammed Ashraf, managing partner of Shalimar Video Company and Mohammed Ashfaq of Universal Home Entertainment lodged complaints with the police against Kalyan alleging that he and Ramesh duped them of `34.75 lakh each after promising to give VCD, DVD rights for the movies Komaram Puli and Mahesh Khaleja.“We are keeping a close watch on Tollywood producers and distributors who often resort to securing finance from the underworld. We will nab them as and when necessary,” the official adds. The reason why this nexus exists is the fear of loss of personal money if invested in films that later flop. But this is a relatively new phenomenon in Tollywood, dating back to 2-3 years, says Ramana Murthy. Now, the police are looking at unearthing the location of Bhanu Kiran through the interrogation of the producer du
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