Producers to face Rs5 crore fine if they cast Pak artistes in future

While the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, a small Maharashtra-based party, has allowed the release of Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, MNS chief Raj Thackeray is in no mood to back down from the battle.

The feisty politician knows the producers’ Achilles heel and has proposed a radical measure to ensure that the Hindi film industry will not cast Pakistani actors in future. Thackeray suggested a hefty fine to be imposed on producers who decide to cast Pakistani actors in the future. 

Along with Karan Johar, Mukesh Bhatt, Siddharth Roy Kapur, and Sajid Nadiadwala, Thackeray met Maharasthra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to solve the imbroglio over the release of Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. Thackeray and his party had threatened to stall the film's release if Johar did not chop off the scenes of Pakistani actor Fawad Khan.

After the meeting, Film and TV Producers' Guild president Mukesh Bhatt told journalists that the guild will adopt a resolution not to hire the services of Pakistani artistes and technicians any more. A copy of this draft will be sent to Fadnavis and Thackeray.

Beside this, Karan Johar has agreed to have a slate paying tribute to the soldiers killed in the terrorist attack on an Uri army camp. However,  these assurances weren’t enough for Thackeray who made a radical proposal to impose a Rs5 crore fine on producers who cast Pakistani artistes in future.

“Producers who sign Pak artistes will have to pay Rs5 crore as penance for army welfare,” Thackeray told reporters after the meeting. That is definitely big money and will hit the profits of any film hard. It looks like it might be some time before we see Fawad Khan, or any other Pakistani artiste, back on Indian screens.