Chhollywood actors, director and producers together staged a protest on Wednesday at various multiplexes across the state against alleged non screening of Chhattisgarhi movies.
Charging discrimination, they shouted slogans against the multiplexes. They later courted arrest at Ambuja Mall in the state capital. From there they were taken to a makeshift jail in Central Jail premises. They were however released after a couple of hours.
Protests were also staged at smaller multiplexes located in towns like Bilaspur, Kanker, Korba and Rajnandgaon. The multiplexes in these cities provide 40% share of their business to Chhattisgarhi movies as compared to 50% to the Hindi films.
A delegation of the cine artistes later met Minister for culture and tourism Tamradhwaj Sahu, who assured them of sympathetically resolving their problem by finding out an amicable solution with multiplex owners.
A meeting has been called with the minister on Thursday to discuss the matter.
The cine artistes alleged that Chhattisgarhi films are abruptly replaced by Bollywood films despite doing good businesses.
They cited the instance of Hindi movie ‘Student of The Year’ replacing ‘Mahu Kunwara Tahu Kunwari’ at Kamal Chhaya Mandir in Rajnandgaon.
The abrupt removal of Chhattisgarhi movie from theatre there sparked protest and ultimately stepped up the agitation of cine artistes.
Notably, Chhollywood cinema gets only 30 to 35 single screen theatres across the state. Multiplexes and big players like Inox, PVR, and Cinemax occasionally release Chhollywood movies.
According to producers associated with Chhollywood they have to face discrimination in the business.
This is badly hampering the interest of the Chhollywood industry which was trying to make its mark among the viewers of the state after the creation of Chhattisgarh as a separate state.