B-town arms itself- Ronit - ARTICLE

Mumbai: Companies providing security to top-notch Bollywood stars are seeing a boom post the terror attacks on Mumbai. DNA has learnt that the 26/11 hostage situation has shaken up the fraternity and more folk of Tinseltown have hired additional bodyguards.

In fact, it seems several Bollywood stars are also telling producers that they don't want the film-makers to look into their security (as was the norm) as they would like to carry their own hired personnel on the sets.

"The risk to life is on the rise and the bigger the name the more cautious one should be as we are seeing the elite being targeted now. So hiring is more than before and the stars want security people who can stay with them 24X7; they even go with them on international shooting locations," says Ronit Roy, whose company provides security to the likes of Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan amongst others. "The stars too feel more comfortable with them being around as they are familiar with them - new people hired just for a film might not be as careful as a star's personal entourage of bodyguards. For the film-makers, it is a relief if a star looks after his/her own security too as it is a very sensitive matter and one can't go wrong."

And what do the producers have to say about this development? Film-maker Mukesh Bhatt, who is also the chairman of the Producers Guild, reveals that producers have indeed washed their hands off providing security to a star since stars are running their own show. "Most stars now insist on having their own security guards and so producers on the whole are no longer looking at providing security to them."

Ram Mirchandani of UTV Motion Pictures says, "It is completely the decision of the star, and is restricted to top stars. We are cool with it." Producer Goldie Behl adds, "Security concern is a big thing nowadays as nobody is safe and if someone feels that his/her own security can protect that person better - so be it!"