New Delhi: Former IPL chairman Lalit Modi hasn’t watched one of Indian cinema’s highest-grossing films, Dhurandhar. In fact, he has seen only three Bollywood films, and they all star Shah Rukh Khan.
“I haven’t watched it, but I want to see it because Ranveer is a friend of mine and he wants to play me in a movie,” said Modi in a recent podcast. He also didn’t reveal the names of SRK films he has watched.
When he was quizzed about underworld boss Dawood Ibrahim being featured in Dhurandhar 2, Modi quickly added: “I thought movies are fictional.”
“I haven’t seen Bollywood movies; I’ve seen only three movies which are of Shah Rukh Khan,” added Modi.
Dawood the bookmaker
During the interview, Modi also revealed that he left cricket administration because of threats from Dawood Ibrahim and his gang, D Company.
“Dawood Ibrahim is a known bookmaker. He controlled the cricket book,” Modi said. The trouble began, Modi said, when he refused to play along with bookies dealing in the multi-billion dollar “Satta Bazaar (gambling market).”
“In those days, it used to be $2 billion of underground betting. Today, it’s a $4 billion underground betting game. It’s unimaginably huge. Every ball, there’s an odd chance. It’s the Satta Bazaar. Nobody fixes games anymore. You fix overs. You fix the ball,” he added.
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Turning down bribe
He further revealed that he turned down “hundreds of millions of dollars” in bribes. Recalling an incident from 2012, he alleged that Ibrahim personally spoke to him over a speakerphone, pressuring him to help the syndicate gain control of an IPL franchise.
“They offered me hundreds of millions of dollars to look the other way. If you look at the first three years, when I ran the IPL, there was no fixing. That didn’t sit well with the mafia,” Modi said.
According to him, his refusal to compromise on the league’s integrity put him at odds with powerful criminal networks that were seeking influence over the tournament.