Mumbai has been at the centre of India's hugely successful Hindi language film industry for almost a century, but now the country's Film and Television Producers' Guild is threatening to up sticks, saying it's too dangerous to film there.
The remarks made by Film Guild chief Ramesh Sippy have come as a shock to those running the city's numerous production facilities, yet some of the problems they relate to are longstanding. Mumbai offers cheap and impressive filming locations alongside a rising level of technical expertise but has struggled to attract foreign productions largely because people feel unsafe filming there, with attendant insurance costs reducing the financial incentive. Its hold on Indian productions is largely rooted in history and habit - it would be hard to imagine the US industry abandoning Hollywood - but now things have reached a level of difficulty where that may no longer be enough, and improving facilities in neighbouring Gujarat are presenting a tempting alternative.
Eye For Film has reported on a series of problems with leopards straying onto sets at Film City on the outskirts of Mumbai. One recent leopard incident resulted in a crew being trapped overnight before rangers could intervene. A big problem, however, has been the increasing threat from politically motivated human aggressors. Some members of the nationalist Maharashtra Navnirman Sena are so opposed to the presence of outsiders in the state that they have attacked and vandalised the sets of productions featuring stars from elsewhere. There have also been allegations of religiously-motivated attacks against an industry that is increasingly pushing the boundaries of what is considered acceptable erotic content. Last weekend, 15 cars and a trailer were destroyed by vandals and actors said they had been threatened. They make tempting targets for terrorists because they guarantee press coverage.
The Bollywood film industry employs over six million people, most of them in Mumbai, so any move away from the city could have a massive economic impact.
