Bachchan, Shah Rukh: Striking a chord?

Mumbai, Oct. 1: Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan joined 100,000 film and television workers in an indefinite strike that began today.

The Federation of Western India Cine Employees, made up of 22 unions, has called the strike against low wages for workers, late payments, long shifts and use of non-union members by the Hindi film industry.

“SRK and Amitabh are our members. They have always come forward in our aid. We are proud to have them and glad that they are lending us support,” said Dinesh Chaturvedi, general secretary of the federation.

The protest is directed against 99 producers who have defaulted on payments.

“At least 60 per cent of them are television producers. They are the worst. Shifts in television run for 26-30 hours at times. According to agreed rules, shifts should not extend beyond eight hours. Our members never raise their voices even if this stretches to 12 hours, which is almost always the case. But beyond that it is an inhuman situation,” Chaturvedi said.

Big banners such as B.R. Films, Balaji, Miditech and BAG Films are on the list of defaulters, the federation claims.

“A film worker gets Rs 600 a day and a television worker gets paid Rs 500 a day. The least the producers can do is pay them on time,” Chaturvedi said.

Most of the producers on the list of 99, the federation complains, have withheld wages for 7-8 months although the rule is to pay within 60 working days.

There were no shoots in Maharashtra and Gujarat today. About 75-80 film and television shoots were cancelled in the western region. Post-production work for over 100 projects was stalled, Chaturvedi said.

“In fact, we are working in tandem with the All India Film Employees’ Federation. All regions have supported our cause. In Bengal, the employees’ federation has promised not to allow any shoots of our defaulting producers in their region,” Chaturvedi, who is also a member of the national executive committee of the all-India federation, added.

Producers’ associations are crying foul. “This is only a way to blackmail us. All that they want is to get the payments disbursed to the workers through them. They are acting like mafia, no wonder many producers want to hire non-union members,” said Anil Nagrath, general secretary of the Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association.

Shah Rukh and Bachchan are producers, too. But the actors are members of the Cine Artistes Federation, an affiliate of the cine employees’ federation that has called the strike.

Ratan Jain, president of the Association of Motion Picture & TV Programme Producers, was quoted as telling agencies: “The strike is not in the interest of the industry… ultimately it will lead to losses for everyone. We can always sit down and talk to find a solution.

“At present, we are entering the festive season and workers cannot afford to go without earnings at this time. I am planning to call a meeting of producers by evening and then we will meet the workers’ representatives to sort out the problem.”