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Bollywood divided over strike

The Bombay film industry seemed divided over the arrest of financier and diamond merchant Bharat Shah's arrest.

On Thursday, movie distributors from Bollywood had called for a one-day strike to express solidarity with Shah, who was arrested for alleged links with the underworld.

On Friday morning, however, Shyam Shroff, a leading film distributor, told the Star News television channel that there was no strike and he was not aware of any strike call.

Nari Sippy, president of the Indian Motion Picture Distributors Association, had told AFP on Thursday, "All film distributors in Bombay will close offices on Friday. This is a unanimous decision."

Shah had been arrested by the Bombay police on Monday and remanded to police custody till January 18 by a court that deals with cases of organised crime.

He is a leading film financier and distributor besides being a top exporter of processed diamonds.

The Indian diamond trade -- the world's largest -- was shut down on Wednesday to express support for Shah.

AFP reported that movie distributors called off a strike at the last minute.

"We have deferred the strike as the matter is now in court. We will wait and see," Sippy told AFP on Friday.

"We said, let's wait till Monday and see what the court says," he added.

However, Shyam Ahuja of Ahuja Films said there was opposition to the strike call.

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