Bollywood joins hands against netagiri

Bharati Dubey & Somit Sen | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; March 16, 2010)

Mumbai: A day after MNS workers were arrested by the police for extorting money from a film producer, the party has threatened action against the police and the production house for allegedly cooking up charges. At the same time, the film industry has collectively decided to fight any sort of political interference.

TOI had in its March 15 edition written about MNS workers barging into the set of Abhishek Bachchan-starrer, Crooked, and allegedly demanding money from line producer Vikesh Bhutani who refused to pay up and called up the police.

Raj Thackeray’s MNS issued a diktat for banning the use of foreign nationals in film dance sequences and instead giving preference to Indian junior artistes. MNS cineworkers union president Shalini Thackeray, refuted the charges and threatened to raid every film set where foreigners were being employed. “We went to check whether the 136 foreigners had valid work permits. Foreigners will not be allowed to work as item girls or those dancing in the background.’’

Incidentally, the director of the film, Abhinay Deo, is the son of yesteryear actors Ramesh and Seema Deo. “I am hurt as the film’s creative process has been hampered. They should’ve at least respected the fact my parents have contributed a lot to the Marathi film industry and know Raj Thackeray very closely. When I told my father at night about what happened, he was appalled,’’ he said.

He added, “I have a lot of expectations from our youth leaders including Raj Thackeray. But what happened on Sunday was not right. They don’t realise that cinema is generating employment, for both local Maharashtrians and non-Maharashtrians.’’ Deo said that he was depicting an Istanbul scene which required foreigners. “There were also an equal number of Indians on the set. What if I had gone to Istanbul to shoot? So many job opportunities would have been lost.’’

The MNS accused film producer Mukesh Bhatt of being instrumental in the arrest of its activists. “Mukesh, who is the vice-president of film producers body, had persuaded the CM to get our activists arrested,’’ said Shalini Thackeray. “The Bhatts should set their own house in order before interfering in what the MNS is doing,’’ she stated.

Film Federation of India president L Suresh said, “The film industry is democratic in its set-up. So we will not allow any political party to interfere in our business.’’

Producer-director Uday Shankar Pani applauded Sidhwani. “This has sent out a positive signal. It indicates a clean-up exercise that is much needed.’’

The Western India Film Producers’ Association (WIFPA), which is supposed to be backed by the Shiv Sena, has condemned the MNS act. President Sanghram Shirke said, “The MNS has set a bad example in its first attempt to enter the film industry. Its motive was to extort money from the producer. But the producer’s response has sent out a strong message and people will now think twice before messing with us.’’

11 party workers get bail
The Bandra magistrate court released 11 MNS workers, who were arrested on Sunday evening for allegedly extorting money from a film producer, on a bail of Rs 3,000 each. A police officer said they had sought remand of the accused but were turned down. According to the arrested MNS party workers, they were not involved in extortion and had only objected to the use of foreign artistes without proper permission. Additional commissioner of police (West Region) Amitabh Gupta said, “If someone has complaints about the use of foreign artistes in a film without required documents, they should approach us about it.’’ TNN