Bollywood feels the Blues: Top stars support strike for better wages
Bollywood film industry has been brought to a standstill because of a strike by more than 100,000 workers, including some of its best-known stars.
Production of movies and television programmes has been halted indefinitely because of the industrial action ordered by a coalition of 22 unions. The indefinite protest, reminiscent of the recent Hollywood Writers’ strike, is about low wages and delayed payments. Although bollywood films portray a world of glitter and glamour, with lush production numbers, working conditions on the sets are notoriously poor. Workers who build movie sets or handle lighting get paid only about Rs.500 for long days, without any overtime pay or any benefits.
"All shoots are off," said Dinesh Chaturvedi, general secretary of the Federation of Western India Cine Employees, the umbrella union for Bollywood employees.
"The producers have not stuck to the terms of the agreement they signed with us one-and-a-half years back."Payments have been delayed by three months, six months, a year. And producers are hiring non-members to save costs. We are not happy to call for this non-cooperation, but we are helpless." Chaturvedi added: “It’s within our rights to ask for better pay. A film worker gets 600 rupees a day. The least the producers can do is pay them on time.”
Top film stars including Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan supported the strike by dancers, writers, technicians and other workers over pay and hours.Both the superstars of the box-office, are demanding that they should be given wages at the increased rate that Akshay Kumar is rumored to receive after the super-success of his last released movie 'Singh is King'.
According to some news reports, Akshay Kumar is being paid a jaw-dropping Rs. 71 crores as wages for his latest film Blue. Amongst the top film stars that are supporting the strike by film workers is Sunjay Dutt, co-star of Akshay Kumar in the movie Blue. Sunjay Dutt is upset at the discrimination meted out to him by the producers of the movie since he is being paid only Rs. 18 crores, one-fourth of the wages that Akshay Kumar, an actor junior to him by nearly two decades, will be recieving for the movie.
According to incoming reports, many Bollywood heroines, including Kareena Kapoor, Preity Zinta and Lara Dutta, are all set to join the strike. "Heroines in hindi movies always get a raw deal. Disparity in the wages shelled out for a hero and heroine has been the bane of Indian cinema ever since its inception." said Ms Zinta supporting the strike by Bollywood workers.
"We demand that film heroines should be paid on par with the heroes. Akshay Kumar may be Khatron ka Khiladi but I'm not any less. I overcame my fear of underwater and did scuba-diving with him. So why should I be paid less than 71 crores?" asked Lara Dutt, co-star of Akshay Kumar in Blue.
- Latest
- Popular
- SRK look-alike looks like another SRK look-alike
- Ash furious with Kat
- Rajkumar Hirani & Vidhu Chopra call Top Secret meeting of Bollywood producers to unveil new concept
- Stampede wasted on Salman Khan in Hyderabad
- Now Yash Chopra, Bachchan, Hema & Dharam demand credit for Chetan's Two States
- Worried at diminishing media coverage, Saifeena plan to get married
- Gods of Doom Decide to End Life on Earth After Watching 2012
- IndiaTV discovers why Bakhtiyaar Irani cries so much
- Maharishi Valmiki's Twitter Home Page
- Opinion: Akshay Kumar downsized - What do you think?
- Freida Pinto's belly button in the list of world's most beautiful belly buttons
- Sharon Stone: Did Ghandi put his foot in his mouth too?
- Shit-covered Jamal wins NDTV's Indian of the Year Award
- IndiaTV discovers why Bakhtiyaar Irani cries so much
- Rajkumar Hirani & Vidhu Chopra call Top Secret meeting of Bollywood producers to unveil new concept
- Naanima ka ek Jharokha, Future ka.
- B-Grade Bollywood Director Feels Vindicated
- Stampede wasted on Salman Khan in Hyderabad
- Maharishi Valmiki's Twitter Home Page
- India wins freedom from Ekta's empire
Statistics
Content : 434
Who's Online
Subscribe to RSS
Featured Links
