PM MODI SILENCES PARTY MOTORMOUTHS

On January 5, 2023, veteran action star Suniel Shetty had urged the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, to help the Bollywood film industry get rid of the ‘Boycott Bollywood’ trend. Shetty said this when CM Yogi Adityanath had met members of the Bollywood fraternity in Mumbai.

Shetty had said, “Hashtag ‘BoycottBollywood’ can stop with your help. It’s important to convey that we’ve done good work. There can be one rotten apple but 99 percent of us don’t indulge in any wrongdoing. We’ve to change this perception. If you take the lead and also talk to the PM, it will make a difference.”

The hashtag ‘Boycott Bollywood’ had started trending after actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s untimely demise.

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It may be noted that on Last Tuesday, PM Narendra Modi’s warning to party workers to avoid ‘unnecessary comments’ on films amid boycott calls was hailed widely by the film fraternity. PM Modi’s statement came amid protests from BJP leaders like Ram Kadam and Narottam Mishra. “If the PM snubs his own people and tells them to shut up and not talk nonsense against the film industry, which is not their area, for mere publicity, it is a big boost of confidence for the industry. That the PM of the country is with you. The signal goes to not only the politicians, but even people from the media, our own industry itself,” Ashoke Pandit, president of the Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) said in an interview to Indian Express. PM Narendra Modi had laid down a series of dos and don’ts for party leaders on Wednesday at the end of the two-day National Executive of the BJP.

Meanwhile, as usual there will be people to draw mileage out of everything. When the fraternity was facing flak, Shetty stood like a rock to defend Bollywood, however, with the Prime Minister’s warning to his leaders to refrain from making such comments, actor Akshay Kumar on Sunday jumped onto the issue and praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for asking BJP workers to refrain from making unnecessary remarks on films and this too he did during the promotions of his latest film!

Akshay went on to say the PM was the “India’s biggest influencer” and if his words can bring about some change it will be great for the film industry. “Positivity is always welcome. And if our Prime Minister is saying something like this... He is India’s biggest influencer. If he is saying something and if things change it’ll be great for the industry.

“And why not, things should change, because we go through so much. We make films, go to the censor board, get them passed and then someone says something and phir gadbad ho jati hai (it becomes a mess). But now that he has said it, I think it’ll be better for us,” Akshay said. Sadly, Akshay “realised” this for his fraternity only after the Prime Minister’s positive comment came in.

The Prime Minister’s comment was the much-needed booster for the Bollywood industry. It may be noted that the entertainment industry had contributed Rs 50,0000 crore to the economy, equating to 0.5% of GDP way back in 2013, according to the report ‘Economic Contribution of the Indian Motion Picture and Television Industry’, by financial services firm Deloitte. The sector also supports 18.8 lakh jobs.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

ROBIN ROY The writer is Senior Journalist and former Managing Editor, First India