I'm a Master in India

Chapter 230: New Troubles

"What business?" Ron asked.

"The Palace!"

"What?" Ron thought he had misheard.

"Brother, I know you just started a war. The Palace hurt Anand so badly, it's fine for you to do that.

But this is Mumbai, people need The Palace, people need a place like that to make deals. This is a good opportunity!"

"This business isn't as easy as you think," Ron reminded him.

"I know, it requires reliable connections." Luca looked at him.

"Wait, what are you planning now?"

"I want to buy that piece of land." Luca's eyes were firm.

"The Palace?"

"Yes, it's already a ruin. No one is paying attention to it, and just tearing it down will take a lot of effort."

"So you want to take the opportunity to acquire it and then build another Palace?" Ron's gaze was strange.

"It's very feasible, isn't it? We need to act quickly on this."

"I went to see Thackeray, the Shiv Sena boss. He said he hates The Palace very much, and even if I didn't do anything, Shiv Sena would destroy it."

"Oh! That sounds terrible, but my Palace will be different." Luca was very confident.

"How so?"

"Mrs. Elizabeth went too far with those jaw-dropping activities. Some people liked them, but others were very disgusted.

I bet all the girls there hated her, that's not good. I won't make it so obvious, I'll give both sides more choices."

"You want to do a business where everyone is willing?"

"Exactly, I want to build a luxurious nightlife venue. The girls will be multi-talented, able to sing and dance, and guests can choose their own entertainment.

I'll make the place very lively, so men can't help but spend money on tips. The place will be very clean and won't provide *that* kind of service, but guests can ask the girls out, and no one will interfere with that."

"That sounds a bit like a bar," Ron said, stroking his chin.

"More high-end, with an entry threshold, and most of the girls will still be foreign."

"Are you serious about doing this business?"

"Merck's path isn't safe, I need to be more prepared."

Although the base in Brazil was destroyed, there was still a lot of money in Luca International Bank's account.

He couldn't just live off his savings forever. Out of normal business sense, he wanted to make his money work for him.

"If you're sure you want to do that, I can help you ask around." Ron stopped trying to persuade him.

"That's it, brother! People will love it, Mumbai can't do without sex."

Luca decided to stay in Mumbai for the time being, at least to lie low for a while. He wasn't familiar with South Africa, and taking his money there might lead to him being ripped off.

He had to wait, at least until he had a foothold in Mumbai, before going back to South Africa or Brazil.

Now he needed to find a new path, one that could make money and build connections.

Businesses like bars and nightclubs were very suitable for his investment. They didn't require strong expertise and didn't lack potential customers.

The only difficulty was connections, so he came to find Ron.

"Oh right, is this your future house? It's damn cool!"

"Just settled it, the old place was too small."

"Wow! Very good, very good."

Luca was very envious; he lived in an apartment in Mumbai. After deciding to stay, he also started to become interested in villas.

He would probably be living here for a long time in the future, so he should consider real estate and such.

But he had to make money first; he couldn't do anything without money.

Ron agreed to help him apply for the land, the site of The Palace, from the Mumbai government.

Mrs. Elizabeth had become history, and with no heirs, the land returned to the Mumbai government.

They were happy to resell it, because just demolishing the building would require a large amount of funding.

Someone taking over not only got rid of the trouble but also got a payoff, so why not?

Destroying one Palace and rebuilding another Palace sounded very ironic.

But no one cared. Mumbai was a city of money, and money was god.

The highest realm of being human was selflessness, but unfortunately, most people couldn't achieve it.

Ron couldn't, Luca couldn't, and the gangs certainly couldn't.

Well, after settling the villa, Ron needed to solve another problem.

Chopra, the director of 'Love in the Time of War Clouds', ran into trouble, and the problem came from gangs.

One day, after finishing his filming work, he was getting out of the car and walking towards his office when he suddenly heard a 'click' sound not far behind him.

He turned around and was scared out of his wits. It turned out to be a killer shooting at him, but the gun jammed.

Still shaken, Chopra ran into his office, his intuition telling him this was a warning.

As expected, a phone call quickly followed: "This is just a preview, the main feature is about to begin."

Chopra probably guessed what was going on. He wanted to ask the police for help, but that wasn't enough to guarantee his safety. The police couldn't stay by his side 24 hours a day.

Upon hearing the news, Mary immediately suggested that Chopra call Ron. Gang matters couldn't solely rely on the police.

When Ron arrived at the Bollywood film city, indoor scenes for 'Love in the Time of War Clouds' were being filmed there.

From a distance, one could hear Chopra's voice, made even louder by the megaphone: "Quiet!"

The huge soundstage had the air conditioning on full blast, everyone was wearing sweaters, and people were still sneezing from time to time.

Besides the official cast and crew, there were extras, temporary stand-ins, and people just watching, so the set was packed with people, including on the roof and the catwalks.

Unless they were blocking the camera, no one drove them away or paid any attention to them.

Ron quietly asked Mary if so many people were really needed; they only had thirty or forty when filming durga.

Mary shrugged, "There won't be another crew like durga's, and this time it's a blockbuster."

In Bollywood, it took three people to manage one light, and the production crew seemed to want a workshop for every single prop.

Furthermore, government officials frequently entered and exited the set. The Secretary of Education once came with his family and conveniently solved the problem of Chopra's child's school admission.

Many relationships you couldn't refuse, and shouldn't refuse.

In India, an official's privilege allowed him to enter and exit some important places at any time.

Ron didn't disturb Chopra; he was multitasking, doing three things at once: making phone calls, reading film-related materials, and answering his assistant's questions.

Manisha, however, kept turning her watery eyes towards him.

She hadn't received the Sun God's gift for a long time, and she urgently needed the nourishment of faith.

"That bitch's hungry eyes, even the male cockroach in the corner could understand them," Lena couldn't help but say sarcastically.

"This is the film city, keep your voice down," Ron reminded her helplessly.

As they were talking, Chopra had already put down what he was doing and walked over.

"You should have just stopped me, Ron."

"You look very busy, you should get two more assistants."

"I don't feel at ease," Chopra sighed. "Others will just muddle through."

He and Ron had met twice and were quite familiar with each other.

"Mary said you ran into trouble."

"Ah, you know, about the film music cassette tapes."

"I heard it's related to a record company?"

"Someone is interfering. Do you know the Nadeem-Shravan duo?"

"That duo band, I heard their cassette tapes sold well." Ron raised an eyebrow.

The Nadeem-Shravan duo is incredibly popular right now. The music cassette tapes they released two years ago sold over twenty million copies, which is terrifying.

"I asked them to record a song. The matter should have ended there, and T-Series, the record company behind them, was also willing to discuss copyright issues with us.

As a result, the band member Nadeem suddenly told me not to make this deal; he had another recommendation. It was a small company with an extremely low offer."

"I guess that small company isn't simple?" Ron asked.

"Yes, it's exactly what you think, a gang. Another company behind it even invested in this film."

"What?" Ron's head was a little confused.

"This is normal in Bollywood," Chopra shrugged. "Gangs invest in films. I just didn't expect Nadeem to also have connections with them; he betrayed us."

As mentioned before, most Bollywood films in this era couldn't get bank loans and had to rely on private investment.

Because banks neither understood nor trusted Bollywood, the funds required to make a film were enormous, let alone the possibility of a film company simultaneously starting production on several films.

It often took several years from investment to getting the money back, and if the film wasn't a hit, the situation would certainly be worse.

Who would have so much spare money? Only gangs.

They were also happy to see black money laundered through the operation of color film reels. A box office success could bring in four times the investment profit within a month of its release.

Therefore, for gangs, investing in films was the fastest way to turn illegal income into legal profit.

It's no exaggeration to say that without the support of gangs, India's film industry would collapse instantly.

Filmmakers would have to rely on the mercy of banks and stockbrokers, whose taste in films would naturally be completely different from that of gang bosses.

Without the funding from gangs, the dreams of Indian filmmakers couldn't be so grand, violent, and passionate.

Chopra was famous and could raise enough funds without relying on gangs.

But to avoid gang interference, he still accepted some investment from them.

This was also normal in Bollywood: sit in a row, share the fruit, everyone gets a piece.

However, gangs rarely interfered with the operations of films they didn't lead. This time, demanding the music cassette tape copyright was quite rare.

"It's rumored that the Nadeem-Shravan duo is closely related to the Dawood Gang. You know, they are all herdsmen," Chopra explained.

"Why would they do this?"

"It's said that there's a royalty dispute between the two of them and T-Series. They simply incited a certain leader of the Dawood Gang to acquire the music copyright this time; they must have reached a private agreement."

"They're selling out their own," Ron clicked his tongue.

"People are greedy, they always want more."

"So, if Nadeem hadn't interfered, we would have reached an agreement with T-Series?"

"T-Series is the largest music distributor in India. They were willing to pay 300 million rupee to buy our music copyright."

"How much?" Ron gasped.

"300 million rupee. We were almost done negotiating." Chopra gestured with his hand.

"So, even before our movie is finished filming or released, we've started making a profit?"

"Provided this deal is finalized and the Dawood Gang doesn't interfere," Chopra sighed.

He almost lost his life two days ago just because he refused the offer from that small record company.

"I'll negotiate!" Ron decided.

He was a common man, especially fond of money.