Shadow actor Naseer Khan arrested in Orissa

CommentNaseer Khan, the blind actor and co-producer of the film Shadow, has been arrested for his alleged involvement in a multi-crore chit fund scam in Balasore district, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa.

"We arrested Khan from Cuttack. He will be interrogated," Inspector General of Police, Crime Branch, A K Roy told PTI.

Ray said that Khan was among several persons wanted by the CBI in the case. He was one of the directors of Fine India, a chit fund company that allegedly siphoned off crores of rupees from gullible investors in Balasore.

Though Khan had quit as director of Fine India some time back, the CBI had information that money was transferred to a Kanpur-based company from where it was channelled to Mumbai [ Images ], police officials said, adding the firm later closed its operations in Balasore.

Khan was a partner of an entertainment company which used the funds in making the movie Shadow, they said. The CBI had frozen Rs 191 crores in different banks where six chit fund companies had deposited money.

Meet Bollywood's first blind hero

Upcoming film Shadow may look like a regular Bollywood August release. But the film is, in fact, very unique because its lead actor is blind.

Nasser Khan was born blind in Kanpur. But he did not let his handicap overtake him. With the help of special magnifying glasses, Nasser studied computers. He is the first blind man to get a Microsoft certification, and clear all papers for Microsoft. He joined his father's leather business, and also learnt other things like repairing electronic items.

He opened a computer institute but recession forced him to shut it down.

Now, Nasser has stepped into Bollywood and will produce and star in his first film, Shadow. He takes Nithya Ramani on his journey through life.

How did films happen?

A friend works in the movies in Orissa. I had gone to visit him on the sets of a film. When I saw the procedure, it looked very simple and I thought I could do it too.

Many warned me against this idea but I was confident that I could do it. I have a cousin, who is struggling in the Hindi film industry. I approached him and met directors through him. I narrated my story idea to them.

It was certain that I was going to produce the film, act in it and script it. I needed a writer to write the screenplay. I decided to rope in Rohit Nayyar for the job.

What was the shoot like?

The first day of shoot was in Bangkok. We were shooting the whole day and didn't even get one shot right. It is very easy to emote naturally but very difficult to do that on camera because you become very conscious.

Everybody was angry with me though they did not tell me anything on my face. But I could figure out by their reaction and repeated takes. I felt bad that the shoot was getting delayed because of me.

I was always on the sets, listening to people and their performances and learning from that. Before I gave my next shot, I did a lot of stunt sequences to get camera friendly.