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Bollywood to boycott Australia

City — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 08:00:34 +0000

Indo-Asian News Service
Saturday, June 6, 2009 (New Delhi)

Citing racial attacks on Indians in Australia, Bollywood’s biggest labour union, Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), has banned its members from working Down Under.

“We prefer to call it a non-cooperation movement because we feel what is happening in Australia is painful and shameful. The Australian government is just not taking adequate steps to find the culprits. So being the head of FWICE, I planned to launch this movement,” Dinesh Chaturvedi told said.

The issue of racial attacks on Indians came to world attention late last month when a student, Sravan Kumar Theerthala, was left fighting for life after being stabbed with a screwdriver in Melbourne. After that nine more attacks have taken place on Indians in the country.

Popular Bollywood films like Dil Chahta Hai, Salaam Namaste, Chak De! India and Heyy Baby were shot in Australia.

But Bollywood now wants to take a tough stand and has united in raising its voice against the attacks. Recently, mega star Amitabh Bachchan rejected an honorary doctorate from a Brisbane university, in protest.

Chaturvedi says many producers and directors have decided to cooperate with FWICE’s stand. “Producers are also cooperating with us and some have already postponed their shooting schedules.”

However, there are those who believe the attacks should not be allowed to affect the Indian entertainment industry’s ties with Australia.

“From my discussions with Indian film professionals, no filmmaker has cancelled any project in Australia,” said Anupam Sharma, founder and director of Australian production house Films and Casting Temple.

“Filmmakers should see through the media hype and sensationalism. They should not cancel projects and let violent criminals win.”

FWICE that comprises more than 270,000 members is, however, firm that it will terminate their ban only when the Australian government expedites its procedures and nails the culprits.

“Until and unless we get a positive response from the Australian government and the people responsible are punished, also till the time there is an apology from them for the attacks, we plan to continue with our stand,” confirmed Chaturvedi.

India’s Bollywood Film Producers End Strike

City — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 13:03:05 +0000

In India, Hindi film producers have ended a two-month strike triggered by a dispute with multiplex cinemas over profit-sharing. The strike led to huge losses for the Hindi film industry, popularly known as Bollywood. It also caused massive disappointment in a country where Bollywood films are a craze.

Bollywood director and producer Mahesh Bhatt in Mumbai (file photo)

Movie-crazy audiences across the country sighed in relief when film producer Mukesh Bhatt announced the end of the strike Friday morning.

“The good news to my audiences is that the deadlock is finally over. The embargo which was happening between the [multi]plexes and the film producers has now finally come to an end,” he announced.

Since April, Bollywood film producers had halted the release of new Hindi films demanding a higher share of profits from multiscreen cinemas.

The strike took place in the summer holiday season, when movie fans eagerly wait for the release of big budget productions casting popular stars.

After lengthy negotiations, film producers have announced that audiences will not have to wait much longer. They said a settlement over distribution of profits with owners of multiplex theaters has paved the way for a number of new releases next week.

A 21 May 2009 file photo of actors Karina Kapoor (R) and Jacky Bhagnani (2nd R) at a promotional event for a new movie in Ahmadabad, India

Bollywood films, usually emotion-packed stories peppered with song and dance, are a rage across India. Most of the films are now released at multiplex cinemas, which have boomed in recent years, and account for more than two-thirds of the ticket revenue generated by the movie industry.

On their part, multiplex cinema owners are hoping that theaters will be packed when new films are screened so they can recover some of the losses incurred in the last two months.

Film producers and owners of multiscreen cinemas are also expressing hope that with the strike behind them, they can focus on other issues of concern to the industry.

Deepak Ashar is the spokesperson for the multiplex association of India.

“We can focus our energies on doing things which are good for the industry as a whole, including for example tackling the piracy issues, or tackling the regulatory regime particularly high entertainment tax levels,” he said.

Piracy causes huge losses to the Hindi film industry as infringement of copyright laws is rampant in India. The industry has also lobbied the government to lower taxes levied on movie tickets.

The Bollywood film industry is the world’s most prolific movie industry, producing about 900 films a year. The films are popular not only in India, but in several Asian countries.