Cinema owners defy rebel ban on Hindi films
AFP, Guwahati
Film distributors and cinema owners in India's troubled northeastern region have decided to defy a ban by separatist rebels on screening Hindi-language movies, officials said yesterday. "We have decided to continue with our business irrespective of the call by militants not to screen Hindi films in the region," said C.S. Narayan, chairman of the Eastern Indian Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA), which is the top film regulatory body in the region. At least 11 separatist groups in the northeast recently called for a ban on the screening of Hindi films, which are popularly known as "Bollywood" movies, arguing that "traditional ways" were under threat from increasing western and Indian influences. The ban is supposed to come into effect from November 15 in five of the seven northeastern states, apart from Mizoram, where no rebel groups officially exist, and Manipur. In Manipur, which borders Myanmar, a ban has already been in force since 2001, with all cinema hall owners abiding by a rebel order not to screen Hindi films or play recorded Hindi music. The EIMPA said it would, however, prevent the screening of "obscene and vulgar" Hindi films. "We will act as a super censor in order to stop distribution of films containing scenes that are vulgar and obscene," Narayan said. "It is very often seen that vulgar scenes are added to some films even after the Censor Board of India passes those movies." Bollywood films, with their song and dance sequences and bittersweet love sagas, have grown in popularity in the past decade across the northeast, a trend the powerful rebel groups fear will lead the region toward further integration into the Indian mainstream. The separatists have not banned Western films, which remain popular in the region, where English is more widely spoken than Hindi, but are costly to bring to cinemas. "Most of the English films now shown in places like Manipur are more obscene and vulgar than many Hindi movies which is detrimental to the interest of the people in the region," another EIMPA official said. India's northeastern region, which boasts more than 300 cinemas, has around 35 distributors of Hindi films. "Our main business comes from Hindi films. Unless we show Hindi movies we are doomed as far as income is concerned," R.N. Nath, a cinema owner, said. At least 30 rebel groups are active in the northeast with demands ranging from outright secession to greater autonomy. More than 50,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in the states since India's independence in 1947.
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