Tinseltown is, as always, in a scandal-induced tizzy, even when it is in India. Shilpa Shetty, a glamorous film star, has been questioned by the police about allegations of extortion levelled against her parents. They say she is owed money by a firm called Prafull Sarees for some advertising work. Prafull's boss says that Mr Shetty, Shilpa's father, threatened him, and that he was in cahoots with a notorious gangster. In Bollywood, an industry in deep trouble, there may be no such thing as bad publicity. But this story does hint at two reasons for its plight: it depends more on the pulling powers of pretty stars of often unappealing habits than on the quality of the product; and its links with the, murky world of the mob are the stuff of legend.
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