``Is it (performances by foreign artistes in India) against the Constitution of India, is it outside the rule of the law? No. It's a silly little prejudice and the only reason it is functional is because you have a group of people working as your bully boys,'' said the stalwart of Indian parallel cinema, addressing the press at the Pune Union of Working Journalists (PUWJ). He was accompanied by Film and Television Institute of India Director Mohan Agashe.

Benegal said governments of the day had always taken advantage of the film industry as and when required. ``In times of national crises, film stars are expected to go around collecting money from the public and today they are also being used to come in power,'' he stated, lamenting that when it came to taxation the industry was treated like liquor and expectedto pay ``punitive taxes'' based on an old-fashioned and conservative view of cinema entertainment.

``Mere status is not enough. Films need to be put on the concurrent list so that they don't get trapped in the vagaries of an industry,'' he said. Industry status had brought with it certain responsibilities, the foremost of which was creating discipline so that an atmosphere of security could be brought in to create good cinema all around, Benegal said. ``Films now have to be treated as an industry which means projects have to be fully developed and secure in terms of insurance and guarantee of completion in a certain time period,'' he added.

Stars, music and a larger-than-life spectacle were considered the security factors of a successful film, he felt, the reason each film seemed like the next. He blamed the falling standards of Indian films in the past 10 years on outside finance at a high rate of interest which made it mandatory for directors and producers to ensure that their films appealed to a widerange of people and thus made money.

``In order not to take a risk, directors prefer to make a film which will appeal to a large audience and engage their immediate attention,'' he said. This, he felt, was being done by appealing to the senses, rather than the intellect by using gimmicks like sex. ``Sex at its functional level is a sensory experience, sensorily you might enjoy cinema sex but it need not appeal to your emotions or your mind,'' said Benegal.

A certain amount of underworld money was coming into films, he agreed, denying however that it was the cause of the film industry's problems.