Cinemas close over language spat
2008-04-29 19:23
Jonathan Allen
Mumbai - About a fifth of all
cinemas in Mumbai, home to India's Bollywood, are being closed
temporarily for not showing enough films in a local language,
police said on Tuesday.
The move from the state's home ministry stems from of an
old local law requiring Marathi-language films to be shown at
least once a day for four weeks every year.
"It is the state language of Maharashtra state. People
staying here have to respect that," said Vijaysingh Jadhav, a
deputy commissioner for Mumbai police.
"Marathi films are also too good, they should screen them."
Mumbai is one of India's most cosmopolitan and liberal
cities, but its leaders sometimes promote regulations favouring
the Marathi people of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the
capital.
Marathis are now a minority in the city, but resentment
about "outsiders" from the rest of India has sparked
disturbances on Mumbai streets earlier this year.
In recent months, the pro-Marathi movement has seen
politicians revive attempts to force companies to hire a
minimum number of Maharashtrians on their staff.
Members of a recently formed pro-Marathi party have also
beat up taxi drivers, many of whom come from northern India,
saying their jobs could be done by people born closer to the
city.
Crackdown may harm business
The cinema drive, the first of its kind, has seen 34 movie
halls ordered shut for up to eight days, and prompted fears
among owners that the crackdown may harm business.
More popular at the box office are the Hindi movies churned
out by Mumbai's Bollywood film industry, which are these days
as likely to be filmed in the tourist districts of New York or
Paris as they are in India.
By contrast, Marathi directors complain the 25 or so
low-budget Marathi films released each year are deprived of an
audience.
But the films sometimes strike even those who understand
them as parochial, said Vinayak Azaad, who heads the Mumbai
office of the Central Board of Film Certification.
"They are dealing with subjects that are local, about
domestic strife, rural poverty, indebtedness," he said.
"Hindi films are always more glossy with the big star
cast."
- Reuters