Bharat Shah

Bharat Shah (born 5 August 1944) is an indian businessman and diamond merchant, Hindi film financier and distributor, under his banner VIP Films. He has produced several Bollywood films, such as Dil Se.. (1998) starring Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala,[citation needed ] Devdas (2002) starring Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai, and Rascals (2011) starring Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn and Kangana Ranaut.[citation needed ]

In 2001, Shah was arrested following an investigation into whether a film he financed, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, was funded by the Indian mafia. This arrest led to a conviction in 2003 for not disclosing fellow producer, Nazim Rizwi's links to the Indian mafia. Rizwi and his assistant, Abdul Rahim Allahbaksh Khan, were also convicted of forging links with the Indian mafia to extort film personalities. Shah was sentenced to one year in jail but as he had already spent fourteen months in jail as part of his trial, he was freed. Rizwi and Khan each were sentenced to six years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹ 15 lakhs.