Salman Khan's director opens up on surviving gangster attack as bullet hit Mother Mary statue, reveals extortion demand of Rs. 1.5 crore: 'I thought someone must be pulling a prank on me'

In a shocking revelation, the renowned director Lawrence D'Souza, behind Salman Khan's hit film 'Saajan,' opened up about a terrifying attack he survived at the hands of notorious gangster Ejaz Lakdawala. D’Souza, who was extorted for a whopping Rs 1.5 crore, narrowly escaped death when a bullet aimed at him struck a statue of Mother Mary, saving his life.

The director’s harrowing account sheds light on the dark underbelly of the Bollywood industry in the 1990s, where success often came with a heavy price and threats from the criminal underworld were a grim reality.Here's a closer look.Salman Khan’s director’s moderate success and growing threatsDuring the 1990s, Lawrence consistently produced moderately profitable mid-budget films. However, after directing Indian Babu, he faced harassment from gangsters who not only called his home demanding money but also shot at him openly in his office.

In a recent interview with Amar Ujala, he revealed that owning luxury items like a new car or apartment often attracted unwanted attention back then. He shared how buying a Mitsubishi Lancer for Rs 14 lakh led to late-night extortion calls, forcing him to sell the car urgently for only Rs 5 lakh.Director on making ‘Indian Babu’ and extortion callsLawrence recounted working on the 2003 film ‘Indian Babu’, produced by a London-based backer who wanted to introduce his son as an actor, investing Rs 4 crore in the project.

He believes word of this reached some gangsters because soon after returning, he started receiving extortion calls. “One day, when I was editing the song, I got a call at the edit studio. He said ‘Main Ejaz Lakdawala bol raha hu (I am Ejaz Lakdawala).

’ I said ‘Kaun? Maine naam hi nahi suna kabhi (Who? I had never heard that name).’ I thought someone must be pulling a prank on me or something. So I hung up,” he shared. He added that when he called back and “played the song for him,” the caller “got mad after that.”Gangster attack and narrow escapeHe said that after the phone call, Ejaz’s henchmen started following him around. After a couple of weeks, when he was sitting in a lawn just outside his office, he saw a biker take two shots at him. He was sitting outside his office where there was a gate with an acrylic sheet he had put up. The biker shot twice, but the bullets didn’t hit him; they struck the sheet. One of the bullets even hit the Mother Mary statue behind him.The extortion demandAfterwards, the gangster kept calling his house, demanding Rs 1.5 crore. He then told Lawrence to ask Nadeem (of Nadeem-Shravan) for the money. Lawrence and his family wondered why Nadeem would pay, and although he wasn’t sure what happened, the calls eventually stopped.

"Get the latest news updates on Times of India, including reviews of the movie Coolie and War 2."