A star-studded Bollywood film has become a box office hit across India, despite protests from rightwing Hindu activists and allegations that it was made with mafia money.
The film, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke (Steal Steal Quietly Quietly), has played to packed houses since its release last week, and has confounded recent attempts by detectives to clean up an industry famous for the murky nexus between its leading personalities and the mafia.
The movie has attracted the kind of publicity that most directors could only dream of but for all the wrong reasons. Its producer, Nazeem Rizvi, is languishing in prison, accused of attempting to kill several Bollywood stars. Its financier, Bharat Shah, has been locked in a neighbouring cell since early January. Both men are accused of making the film with underworld money and of colluding with one of India's most feared mafia dons, Chhota Shakheel.
It might come as some consolation to them that Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, which stars Salman Khan, India's answer to Richard Gere, has fascinated huge audiences intrigued by its underworld links.
The film has all the ingredients of a Bollywood hit, including a love triangle and a patriarchal cricket-playing grandfather.
"Its got all the makings of a great entertainer," said Gitanjali Chaturvedi, a student, yesterday as he emerged from a three-hour showing at a plush Delhi cinema. "It's got good singing and dancing, pretty women, exotic foreign locations, Salman Khan and backless cholis (blouses)."
Writing in the Times of India, the critic Nikhat Kazmi described it as a "modern ode to the ancient Indian family" and praised its"overwhelming feel-goodness".
Not everyone is happy, though. Armed guards have been posted outside cinemas in Delhi and Bombay after members of the ultra-nationalist Shiv Sena disrupted several showings on Friday. At least 12 people have been injured and more than 200 protesters arrested following pitched battles between rightwing Hindu activists and police in several cities. Two protesters attempted suicide.
The activists object to the alleged links between Pakistan's secret service and the Karachi-based Indian gangsters who appear to have picked up the tab for the film's £1.4m production costs.
Not that they are likely to see any return on their investment. After arresting Mr Rizvi in December as he tried to flee his Bombay apartment, detectives seized the prints of Chori Chori Chupke Chupke and handed them over to the court receiver.
The film, which had been due for release on December 22, was finally cleared for distribution last week. The court ruled that all profits should go to an unlikely beneficiary - the Maharashtran state government which runs Bombay.
Meanwhile, the affair has unnerved Bollywood's elite, many of whom have been questioned about their links with the underworld. Detectives have grilled the movie's three main stars - Salman Khan and the actresses Preity Zinta and Rani Mukherjee - as well as 60 other celebrities.
Last week police produced a 1,800-page dossier with details of phone conversations between Mr Shah, a wealthy diamond merchant, and Mr Shakeel in which the pair allegedly plotted to extort money from a Bollywood promoter.
Police also claim that Mr Rizvi used his links with Mr Shakeel to pressurise stars into agreeing to take part in the film, and the producer is accused of trying to kill India's most bankable young star, Hrithik Roshan, and his producer father Rakesh. He has already survived an assassination attempt.
Mr Shah and Mr Rizvi deny any wrongdoing, but their attempts to win bail have so far been turned down.
The film's commercial prospects appear unharmed by the scandal, however, with record bookings for the first weekend.
