It happens only in India!
q FWICE-Production teams at opposite ends q Production bodies of Indian channels go on strike
Uzma Zafar

ISLAMABAD—The lyrics of the popular Bollywood number; ‘It happens only in India’ very rightly underlines the situation the Indian channels are going through these days. It has never happened anywhere across the globe but in India where the production bodies have gone on strike since 4 days now; Monday onwards, due to a deadlock in conversation between the FWICE; Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees and production bodies and the resultant is airing of old Soaps and programmes instead of new ones!
It is pertinent to mention here that even prior to the slide displayed on various Indian channels about the said production strike, for the entire past 2 weeks except last Friday, old episodes of Kum Kum were being aired and one thought that maybe the financers of Ekta Kapoor had some fight with her and the sponsors had stopped financing her dramas as her Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki ended and her Kyunke Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahoo Thi was also on the verge of calling it a day! However, it was this Monday on 10th November that Sony aired the slide that all programmes would be repeated due to production strike and since Tuesday, the slide started saying that ‘Due to deadlock in conversation between FWICE and production bodies, old episodes of dramas would be aired’, seeking apology for the action. No other channel even bothered to display the slide even. The viewers are already tired of the Soaps as they hardly move forward in story not to say be tortured by old episodes.
As par the most recent information gathered by The Daily Mail, the dispute between the Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees and the producers, which resulted in a strike by the FWICE, not only led to disruption in the work schedules of the artistes, but also caused a major threat to the survival of the Hindi General Entertainment Channels. And it began way before this Monday.
Due to this threat posed to the GECs, the channels have reached a unanimous decision to finally put an end to the never ending strike. Channels heads have issued warnings to the FWICE and producers to resume shooting at the earliest. They also issued a memorandum stating that they are not involved in whatsoever way in the strike. According to the memo, the channel heads have clearly stated that they would like the matter to be sorted out between the FWICE and the producers by the 9th of November but till this day, there’s no let-up.
The current market situation is already affecting the revenues being brought in by the GECs, but this strike is adding to the burden. The channel heads have reached the decision to collectively combat this financial crisis not only to control costs, but also to continue providing entertainment to the loyal audience.
Speaking about the memorandum, Keertan Adhyanthaya, Business Head, Star Plus, said in a statement, “It is not only the channel that is suffering to due to this strike but the viewers and advertisers too. So finally we decided to put our foot down and tell the producers and de rest of the fraternity that it was high time they put an end to all of this. They need to resume shooting or else the channel does not get any new content from them leaving all of us in the lurch.”
Annotating on the same, Tarun Mehra, Business Head, Zee TV states, “The demands being made by them are not at all viable. The issue is between the producers and the federation. But if the producers demand for more money, it is likely that we might lose our advertisers, as they don’t want to pay more. If it doesn’t end right now it never will. I think the federation and the producers need to solve it on their own.”
Big TV channels come with huge responsibilities. Never had this happened at least in Pakistan not to say anywhere else in the world, that the production bodies are compelled to go on strike whatsoever remains the issue with any other body for that matter and that too, no one knows for how long. And had such a situation arisen even, we would have something better to air, out of the archives, than old episodes of torturous Saps. But as we can see, Indian channels including Star Plus, Sony, Zee TV, Star One, Colours and Sahara One are in a fix, airing non-stop, old episodes of all dramas.
The government high-ups of Pakistan need not worry about banning Indian channels and all as can’t say how may days the Indian channels would stay even, provided the current situation prevails! So, wait and watch what next happens only in India, not that anyone has time to bother anyway!