A strike that brought Bollywood film production to a halt for three days was called off to the satisfaction of the unions and employers. Bollywood workers numbering 1.5 lakh had gone on an indefinite strike demanding resolution of their problems.
Movie stars including Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan, as well as dancers, writers and technicians heeded a call for an indefinite `non cooperation protest in Mumbai.
The producers have agreed to our demands, Chaturvedi of the Federation of Western India Cine Employees said. A new committee would look into payment disputes and television filming sessions would be limited to 12 hours. When there was no television in the '60s and '70s we enjoyed dramas and plays, organized during festive occasions and on special days.
As cinema progressed, people's interest in watching live plays got diminished. Cinema offered a variety of entertainments and scenes not only of home but foreign too. No doubt coupled with this it has promoted obscenity too.
The very word Bollywood reminds one of charming personalities who have become a daily part and parcel of both young and old people. Certainly the people are pained to learn that they are getting a raw deal as regards payments on time and the work conditions becoming adverse thereby telling upon their health and family relations.
Even though the Bollywood has come of age and has given us the best of entertainments, yet the people who work tirelessly in this sector are not being looked after well. It is for the first time in the 50 years of Federation of Western India Cine Employees, the umbrella union for Bollywood employees, existence that such a protest has been staged, said Dinesh Chaturvedi, general secretary of the organization.
Payments have been delayed by three months, six months, a year. Another grievance of the federation is that the producers were hiring non-members to save costs.
Even though the hiring of workers could be as per the change in times, yet the workers who have been relying on this profession for a number of years and have no other place to go, their demands needs to be considered sympathetically.
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