Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday met Bollywood personalities in Mumbai to discuss opportunities that Hindi filmmakers can avail while shooting in Uttar Pradesh’s upcoming Film City. During the discussion, Suniel Shetty mentioned that it is important to bring the audience back to theatres and they should start trusting that the film industry is made up of good people doing good work. He also asked for help from CM Yogi Adityanath and spoke about anti-Bollywood trends on social media. He also assured him that people in the industry ‘don’t do drugs or wrong work.’
Shetty first spoke about how the Film City in UP should encourage locals to become a part of it and provide them with employment. He said, “We should focus on creating actors. It is of utmost importance to create technical teams as well. So, when you go there, you go with a small unit and encourage locals. That’s when the company will be a hit when locals get employment.”
He added, “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.”
Only a day ago, it was Akshay Kumar who met Yogi Adityanath in the city. The actor shared his enthusiasm for UP’s future Film City. During the meeting, Akshay Kumar also urged Yogi to watch his recently released film Ram Setu.
While speaking about the importance of working towards warding off the negative sentiment the audience has towards the Hindi film industry, Suniel Shetty said, “The hashtag that’s going on, Boycott Bollywood, yeh ruk bhi sakta hai aapke kehne se (it can stop if you say). 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 how we can stop this trend.”