Bollywood producers' strike Ends

Jun 8, 2009

Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor

India's Bollywood film producers have called off a two-month strike staged amid differences over sharing revenue with multi-screen cinemas.

Producer Mukesh Bhatt, who represented the producers during the stand-off, confirmed that the strike was over.

The two parties settled their differences at a 14-hour meeting, Mr Bhatt said, and both emerged happy.

The strike meant no new releases were screened in multiplexes. Mr Bhatt now says new films will come next Friday.

The dispute has also been affecting movie fans, in a country where Bollywood has an immense following.

'Equality for all'

Announcing the settlement at the end of the meeting, which finished at 0230 local time on Friday morning, Mr Bhatt said the new deal was fair to all sides in the dispute.

"I am feeling very nice as we achieved what we had set out to achieve. I will be able to give out details on Monday but it is equality for all in the revenue sharing."

Now that the strike is over, Mr Bhatt said, films like Kal Kisne Dekha, Jashn and New York will be released from 12 June.

Bollywood producers went on strike in early April after failing to settle differences with multi-screen cinemas.

Producers wanted a 50% share in the revenues generated by the cinemas, while owners said the share should be lower if a film performed poorly.

During the strike many multiplexes showed old films, but audiences were poor and many cinemas reported major losses.

Last year nearly 20 films were released during April and May, almost half of them big budget, star-studded productions.

Multiplex cinemas have boomed in India in recent years, especially in the cities, and now account for almost 70% of the $2bn (£1.4bn)-a-year Hindi film industry.

Many producers now make films for release only at multiplex cinemas.

The Indian film industry is the world's largest, churning out more than 900 films every year, but has been badly affected by the global economic crisis.