Recent past we have heard of instances of several names from the Bollywood film fraternity who are being threatened by the underworld gangsters especially in the 1990’s. Those that came to light included David Dhawan, Karan Johar and few others. Bollywood’s association with mafia began at its peak in the 1980 and 1990;s and it was around that time that actress Sakshi Shivanand had a close brush with the underworld, an incident that left a permanent impact in her career in Hindi films.

Sakshi Shivanand is said to have left Hindi films for the fear of her producer’s mafia connections.

The underworld connections in Bollywood were strong then

Sakshi Shivanand had made her debut in Telugu cinema and in 1993 had a release by the name of Anna Vadina. She then moved to Hindi films and had starred in films like Vinod Khanna’s Janam Kundli, Mahesh Bhatt’s Papa Kahte Hain, Dharmendra’s Jeeo Shaan Se. However, she had not found the same success as she has in the Telugu films so she returned to South cinema eventually. She then went on to work in successful projects with top stars like Mammootty, Chiranjeevi and Arvind Swamy.

She made a comeback in Hindi films when she got another opportunity to appear in films like Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai and starred opposite Govinda in Jahan Jaaeyega Hamen Paayega. During this phase of her career, she was offered Tum opposite Saif Ali Khan. Sakshi had readily agreed to sign for this new film but she soon discovered the film’s producer’s involvement and connection with the underworld. She was terrified when the producer allegedly turned out to be from the underworld. She said many had told her about the underworld connections were strong in Bollywood but she completely freaked out to know the film producer of the film she had signed was from the underworld.

Sakshi Shivanand said goodbye to Bollywood career even before she had reached her peak

Petrified by the producer’s links with the underworld, Sakshi decided to abandon the project and cut off all contacts. The decision effectively also ended her future prospects in Hindi cinema. She even changed her contact number to avoid speak or receiving calls from the Tum producer and she went away that nobody could find her. The experience cost her a promising career in the film industry especially in the Hindi cinema.

She had done Anubhav Sinha’s Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha and it was a hit film that she got noticed and would have fetched her many more roles in films going forward. She then started appearing in South films but only appeared for a limited number of films after this incident. Her last big screen appearance was 2014 Kannada film Paramshiva in 2014.

Sakshi returned to South cinema but only appeared in a limited number of projects after this incident. Her last big-screen appearance was in the Kannada film Paramashiva.

Besides David Dhawan and Karan Johar, it was also Farah Khan who has got a scarry and direct threats from the underworld. Karan Johar had received the threats just before the release of his director debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.