Budget 2022: Producer Mukesh Bhatt is critical in his feedback while FICCI’s Leena Jaisani is appreciative – Times of India

Speaking about the positive, Leena Jaisani said, “The announcement of the AVGC task force is a very welcome move by the government today. It has been the lobbying effort of FICCI for the last 15 years, to get this task force on board. We are thankful to the government for announcing it in the budgetary speech.”

Mukesh Bhatt on the other hand had a more critical outlook. He said, “We are supposed to be a soft power of the nation, but unfortunately we have zero recognition or support from whichever government comes to power. The industry was forced to shut shop during the pandemic. Give us something, we will not tell you what we want, you are evolved people, you know the industry is bleeding. At least give us the recognition that we are also part of the ecosystem. How can you just segregate and put us in the dust bin?”

Bhatt pointed out that he was not angry. He said, “We are hurt. Some day, you will wake up and realise we also exist.” He also maintained that all political parties have the same outlook towards the film industry. He said, “It has got nothing to do with this political party or that political party. This has been happening forever and for some strange reason, best known to them, they completely overlook us.”

Mukesh Bhatt also felt that the government tends to use a single yard stick while evaluating the entire film industry. And he felt that this practice was unfair. He said, “We don’t have the right to demand. The industry has been effectively shut for two years. No films have released, business and their owners are bleeding. How these individuals are paying salaries, God alone knows.

The industry is not about Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar. The government feels everybody in the industry is a Karan Johar, Aditya Chopra, Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn. They are a handful of people. You can’t look at the entire industry that way. There are millions of workers, technicians and small producers who are on the verge of starvation. Don’t you feel responsible towards them?”

Summing up his dissatisfaction, he signed off, “Can the government show some sympathy?”