Colour money Bharat Shah does not like losing. Some years ago, an auction of Michael Jackson's personal memorabilia was going on in Mumbai. The city's glitterati had hot-footed it to the event. And there were many businessmen and industrialists who were itching to take home the Michael Jackson autographed pillow cover on sale. Shah breezed into the auction hall, outbid everyone present and left as suddenly as he had appeared. His friends say it is futile to bid when he is around. Recently, he outbid everyone yet again to take home the limited edition 'Lata Mangeshkar' perfume. Bharat Shah has always liked living king-size. But that was then. In the aftermath of his arrest for his connections with the Mumbai underworld, Bharat 'Moneybags' Shah's Midas touch seems to have disappeared. He has been reduced to feigning illness to escape staying in the police lock-up for a day. Even in the lock-up where he is now lodged, he has tried in vain to get preferential treatment. The only concession made has been home-cooked tiffin which his son dutifully brings everyday. A far cry from his days in Swapnalok, his posh apartment on Napean Sea Road which has a huge swimming pool built inside the compound. BMWs, Mercedes' and several other fancy cars usually jostle for space in his garage. A Palanpuri Jain, his family could be easily called the first family of India's diamond industry with operations spread across the globe. B. Vijaykumar & Company, where Shah and his brother Vijay were partners once, operates in Thailand, Belgium and Israel. In 1981, the company received an award from Israel for generating the country's maximum exports. In 1994, the King of Belgium made Bharat Shah a Knight of the Order. Shah flew to Antwerp with his entourage in a chartered plane to receive the award. The Shahs have a huge bungalow in Antwerp which is said to be bigger than the King's Palace itself. Over the years, it has become a tourist attraction of sorts. Their diamond polishing unit in Bangkok is the biggest and most modern in the world, with 1,200 employees. Clearly it wasn't the lure of money which attracted Shah to Bollywood. His friends say the interest in Hindi films was something he had nurtured since his time as a gawky-eyed teenager. He is said to have borrowed money from his father when in his teens to invest in a Rajendra Kumar, Raj Kumar and Meena Kumari starrer called Dil Ek Mandir. The teenage hobby soon became an obsession. Diamonds remained his bread and butter but the jam increasingly came from the movies. So much so that by the time 2000 drew to a close, Bharat bhai was bank-rolling 60 per cent of all Bollywood flicks. At any given point of time, Shah used to have investments to the tune of Rs 100 crores in the industry. Quite the big daddy of Bollywood. Industry insiders say that anyone who got into trouble in Bollywood, headed straight for a darshan of the portly Shah. Shah helped Shah Rukh Khan purchase his grand bungalow in Bandstand at a reported Rs 13 crore. Khan returned the favour by acting in his films. Shah has also invested in Khan's SRK World and a portal, catchuslive.com, a broadband site floated by Wizcraft. He is a bit of a philanthropist as well and has donated large amounts to charity. But somewhere along the way, the glamour of tinsel-world went to his head. Always a bit of a showman, his lifestyle became more and more ostentatious. For his daughter's marriage in 1989, he constructed a replica of a Rajasthani palace at Wankhede stadium. Shashi Kapoor later shot some scenes for Ajooba there. Social organisations mounted a crescendo of protest but he stuck to his guns. The Vallabhai stadium was taken over next for his son's wedding. This wedding outdid his daughter's in opulence. Later, when son Rasesh became a father, granddad Shah made a room for his grandson, with diamonds spread on the floor and a transparent floor covering them. He might have been on his way to becoming the Shah of Bollywood but trouble was brewing on the home front. A year ago, Bharat Shah fell out with his younger brother Vijay. The brother had objected to his business dealings in Bollywood and his association with unsavoury elements. Vijay had no objections as long as his elder brother's activities were restricted to investment and financing. But Vijay protested when Bharat began to mingle freely with directors, actors, actresses and producers. It was around this time that the two brothers decided to split. Vijay Shah started managing the business from Antwerp while Bharat Shah retained the India operations. It was also the time the Shiv Sena-BJP combine went out of power. When the Sena was in power Shah had even bankrolled a production for Smita Thackeray, daughter-in-law of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. There has been some talk that the diamond trader turned film financier was being persecuted because of his proximity to the Shiv Sena. In fact, Shah made a trip to Delhi just before his arrest hoping to pull some political strings to stave off his arrest. But his problems are just beginning. Enforcement agencies will soon launch parallel investigations into his business dealings. The crime branch in Mumbai has been talking to these agencies. 'He is not a saint diamond merchants are projecting him to be. He is a criminal,' says a police official. Apart from the diamond merchants who called a token one day strike - it cost the industry Rs 200 crore - the only other person who has vociferously defended him is Chhota Shakeel. He has called Bharat Shah a 'white aadmi'. But for everyone else, especially for the Mumbai police, there are several shades of grey in between.