FWICE slams ‘Boycott Bollywood’ trend, says protestors threatening public

Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) in a statement has strongly condemned the ongoing trend of ‘Boycott Bollywood.’ The film body issued the statement on Friday and urged the government to provide protection. 

FWICE’s statement came days after a unit of Bajarang Dal barged into a mall in Ahmedabad and protested against the release of ‘Pathaan.’

“The recent trend of “#Boycott Bollywood” has been affecting the producers and lakhs of workers working for the films and it has been seriously noted by the FWICE as it has raised a major situation of survival of the common workers, technicians and the artists who are earning their daily bread from this industry,” said FWICE in a statement.

It added, “It is not only the producer/writer or the director but there are lakhs of crewmembers associated with one film. There is huge investment in films and lakhs of people earn their livelihood from it. With such a large enterprise, it is natural that film-makers have to do their utmost to make the product which will fetch the best returns.”

“A film is made with passion and dream of success. However, these blooming dreams get shattered by such trends which are many times influenced by people believing in hatred and those who do not support peace, harmony and unity. People have been barging into the theatres and threatening the public and forcefully vacating the theatres. There have been threats to the producers and the lead actor/actresses. They are abused on social media platforms with filthy/vulgar language,” read the statement.

FWICE further said, “We strongly condemn these acts and the boycotting of any film which is already certified by the final cell of the Film authorities which is the CBFC. Getting a film certified through the CBFC is itself an achievement as the film and the filmmakers are going through the entire process of certification. The protestors of the film should thus follow the right channel and report their grievances against the film to the CBFC and other governing authorities rather than blindly coming up with such a destructive trend to blatantly boycott the entire industry.”

‘This should end somewhere’

FWICE also stated that it accepts people boycotting and objecting to films for reasonable reasons but the boycott trend for every film has to end. 

“We appreciate people boycotting films for their rights and reasonable objections but an indiscriminate boycott of all the Bollywood films shall not be accepted and allowed at any cost. This should end somewhere.”

“FWICE stands strong in support of the producers who are creating films and generating employment to lakhs of people and helping them to earn their living and survive with dignity. We urge the government to intervene in the matter and stop this trend of ‘Boycott Bollywood’” FWICE concluded its statement.

Check out FWICE’s statement letter here:

Bajrang Dal protested against the release of ‘Pathaan’ in Ahmedabad

A unit of Bajarang Dal on January 4 tweeted videos of ‘a protest’ against the film ‘Pathaan.’ In the videos, the group can be seen destroying ‘Pathaan’ posters. 

Check out the videos here:

On January 5, actor Suniel Shetty, who met Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath during his two-day visit to Mumbai, urged the CM to discuss boycott trends with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The agenda of Yogi Adityanath’s meeting was to discuss possibilities for Bollywood in Noida Film City.