Suniel Shetty on Thursday urged Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to help get rid of the ‘Boycott Bollywood’ trend on social media. The UP CM, who was on a two-day Mumbai visit, rounded off his trip by meeting film personalities such as Shetty, Subhash Ghai, Jackie Shroff, Rajkumar Santoshi, Manmohan Shetty and Boney Kapoor. Though the agenda of the meeting was to discuss shooting and investment prospects in Noida Film City, Shetty took the opportunity to put forward the grievances of the film industry.

“Today if we are facing a problem then it is not about cost or subsidy, but it is to do with the audience. We have to bring the audience back to theatres. It is very important,” Shetty was quoted as saying during the session.

He added, “The hashtag that’s going on Boycott Bollywood yeh ruk bhi sakta hai aapke kehne se. It is important to spread the word that we are doing good work. One rotten apple is everywhere, but just because of that you can’t call the whole industry rotten. Today, people think that Bollywood is not a good place, but we have made such good films here. I was a part of one such film too, when I did Border. I have been a part of many good films. We have to come together and work towards how we can get rid of the Boycott Bollywood hashtag. We have to figure out how we can stop this trend.”

“It is of great importance that this stigma that is on us is gone. It’s a very strong emotion for me. Dukh hota hai bolne me ke humaare pe yeh stigma hai because 99% of us are not like that. Hum din bhar drugs nahi lete, hum galat kaam nahi karte. Hum achhe kaam se jude hai. Bharat ko agar bahar ke desho se kisi ne joda hai toh woh hai humaara music, and our stories. So, Yogi ji, if you take the lead and talk to our beloved Prime Minister about still continues it, it will make a huge difference,” said Shetty.

Subsequently, we spoke to Suniel Shetty who told us why he chose to raise the impassioned request at the event. Excerpts:

There were a lot of people attending the event, someone asked for an entertainment park (in UP), someone asked for more theatres etc. All I asked for was some help for our film industry because we are probably at the worst stage that we have ever been in. I asked for help to revive the industry and get our respect back.

Mera ek hi kehna hai ki if I do something wrong, if I project myself wrongly, then hang and ban me, but don’t ban my industry because there are thousands of workers. After all, the film industry is not only about actors. It is about people at various levels and various stages, right from spot boys, carpenters, dancers etc. and all of them are a part of the film industry. I keep praying and wishing that our golden days come back. We have connected the world through music. At birthdays or naming ceremonies, it is our music that is played, and that is what people enjoy.

I didn’t ask for a piece of land, I didn’t say I needed subsidy for one of my movies, I just said help the industry stand on its feet. Yogi ji is someone who wanted to meet the industry and listen to us. We are on the back foot right now and someone needs to come forward. I know I will get a lot of gaali from people who want to boycott Bollywood. They will abuse me and say, ‘Yeh toh flop actor hai, etc. ’ Par woh sab mujhe chalega.

Yogi ji gave a very positive reaction (to my point) and I am happy about that. The new beginning can happen beautifully from a state like UP, because UP and Bihar are the heartland of India when it comes to Hindi movies. Bolte hain ki UP, Bihar mein film chal jaati hai toh all-India mein ripple effect hoke film chal jaati hai. UP has always been a state where we have shot our films and enjoyed them. I became an action hero thanks to UP, Bihar. That love still continues.

— Onkar Kulkarni and agencies