Ever since Raj Kundra and his porn movies racket was busted by the Mumbai Police, the entire ‘Social Justice Warrior’ class of Bollywood has assumed a stoic silence. The chirpy usual suspects of the tinsel town who are ordinarily hyperactive on every socio-political cause happening across the country, not afraid to give their two cents have preferred to look the other way. Call it their way of shrugging off the controversy or hiding their involvement in Kundra’s shady business but something clearly appears amiss.
Ekta Kapoor and her infamous streaming app ALT Balaji has found mention in the ongoing case. According to an expose by DNA, ALT Balaji’s name has been mentioned in the chat of Raj Kundra and his partner Umesh Kamat and thus involvement of Ekta Kapoor cannot be ruled out.
Ekta is one of the well-connected industry biggies and thus one cannot rule out that similar big names could be involved in Raj’s pornographic empire. Besides, Ekta’s app has similarly invited suspicion for publishing soft-erotica and downright obscene video content.
While none out of the Bollywood brigade has condemned Kundra, her wife Shilpa Shetty finally broke the silence and shared an Instagram story highlighting few portions of a book page. The quote read, “The place we need to be is right here, right now. Not looking anxiously at what has been or what might be but fully aware of what is.”
Shilpa’s Instagram story also talked about dealing with challenges: “I take a deep breath, knowing that I’m lucky to be alive. I have survived challenges in the past and will survive challenges in the future. Nothing need distract me from living my life today.”
As reported by TFI, Raj Kundra had rapidly scaled his business in the porn industry. Earlier this year in February, the authorities first came to know about Kundra’s illicit business when actor Sagarika Shona filed a case at the Malwani police station and alleged that a famous businessman who also happens to be the husband of an actress was running an underground porn racket.
Raj Kundra’s team tried their best to deny the charges but after the police investigation, it was revealed that Umesh Kamat, who happens to be the executive assistant to Kundra’s company’s managing director, had demanded a “nude audition” from Sagarika Shona. Although Kamat was suspended from his post after his arrest, the police had, by then, gathered enough evidence against Raj Kundra as well.
However, to evade the Indian authorities, Kundra got his application ‘Hot Hit’ registered in London. Not only this, Kundra knew that his pornographic endeavour could soon be busted by the agencies and thus he had a contingency plan prepared.
Kundra and his aides had decided that whenever the police came calling at their doors, all the content available on the Hot Hit app will be destroyed and simultaneously uploaded to other applications owned by Kundra viz. Eightshots and Nuefliks.
Reportedly, both Poonam Pandey and Sherlyn Chopra have alleged that Kundra was responsible for their entry into the adult industry. During the investigation, it was revealed that Sherlyn was paid Rs 30 lakh for each project, and so far, she had done 15-20 projects for Kundra.
Making and distributing porn might not be an offence in other countries but currently, India doesn’t have any law that allows it. Section 292 and Section 293 of the IPC, Section 67 of the IT Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986 prohibit the publication of such content.
Moreover, exploiting financially weak and desperate actresses looking to make big in Bollywood amounts to trafficking. The can of worms has just opened and it looks certain that several big fishes could be caught in the coming days.