Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 26, 2014)

The Bharatiya Janata Party's Mumbai branch entered the world of glamour and greasepaint yesterday to launch a film union. It is headed by Shaina N C, a key party functionary who is well connected in the film world. There were mixed reactions from Bollywood to the union.

Kulmeet Makkar, CEO, Film & TV Producers Guild, insists that it is a step taken to appease the vote bank. But filmmaker Shekhar Kapur sees it as a positive sign for the film industry. "Why shouldn't we have a union backed by the strongest political party in the country which registered a swashbuckling win in the Lok Sabha polls?" he argued.

Another filmmaker, Vipul Shah, said that he will form an opinion after reading the union's agenda document. And even the usually frank Mahesh Bhatt doesn't want to "pre-judge anybody".

However, activist-producer Ashoke Pandit was vocal in his reservations, saying, "Don't we have enough associations for the film fraternity already? BJP MPs Shatrughan Sinha, Hema Malini and Paresh Rawal should make a difference in the Parliament. The party at the centre should concentrate more on problems pertaining to the common man." 
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Bharati Dubey (MID-DAY; July 26, 2014)

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now launched a film mazdoor union. The union was launched on Friday evening at the BJP Dadar Hall. The union will be headed by BJP leader, Shaina NC, who is also a fashion designer and has been closely associated with the film industry. Sandeep Dighe of the BJP will also play a key role in the union. The union’s cine wing will be called BJP Kaamgaar Morcha’s BJP Chitrapat Union.

On her part, Shaina NC, who has organised several meetings between members of the film and television industry and Information & Broadcasting minister, Prakash Javdekar, wants to focus on the well- being of women in the film industry.

She says, “Women working in the film industry need to get perks that they deserve. They are entitled to pregnancy leave and good sanitation facilities and — this will be our area of focus. The goal is to get them their rights. Unlike other unions, we don’t intend to disrupt shoots and vandalise film and TV sets. We intend to become the bridge between the film and TV industry and the workers’ union.’’ The union plans to offer PPF facility, life insurance and Mediclaim to all its members.

Shaina says, “The membership fees start at Rs 1,000 per year depending on the department of filmmaking.” Some of the film fraternity members invited for the launch were Subhash Ghai, Manish Goswami, Dalip Tahil, Shashi Ranjan and Kiran Shantaram.

It may be pointed out that several political parties, including the Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and NCP, have their own mazdoor unions in the industry. It remains to be seen whether the film and TV industry will lap up what the BJP’s cine cell is putting up on offer.