After SIFCC, DMK against IIFA

Spicezee Bureau

Mumbai: Just a day after the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC) said that it will boycott Bollywood actors participating at the IIFA weekend in Colombo, as a mark of solidarity in the wake of atrocities committed against Tamil people in Sri Lanka. DMK upped its ante against all those Bollywood stars, who have reached Colombo, despite the reservations of SIFCC. Speaking to a news channel on SIFCC boycotting Bollywood actors, DMK MP Kanimozhi said, “I can’t comment from a political point of view. Boycott reflects Tamil sentiments. Anybody has a right to maintain a decision.” The young DMK MP also added, “I would like to see the rehabilitation of Tamilians and the war should get over.” Earlier, the General Secretary of the Chamber L Suresh told reporters from Chennai that the decision has been taken keeping in mind the local sentiments. "As per the decision, films featuring the personalities who participated in the IIFA will be not be screened in South India," he said. Suresh, along with the President of the Chamber C Kalyan and G Siva, who is the General Secretary of the Film Employees Federation of South India, was in Mumbai three days ago to persuade their counterparts in the city against visiting Sri Lanka for the IIFA weekend. The trio met President of the Film and Television Producers Guild Manmohan Shetty, filmmakers Ramesh Sippy, Yash Chopra and J P Dutta, financer Ratan Jain, officials of the organisers Wizcraft and other members of the Mumbai film industry who are on the IIFA Advisory board. Suresh said the Bollywood bigwigs said they had full sympathy to the condition of Sri Lankan tamils but expressed their inability to shift the venue because "it was too late." "They told us that they were bound by contractual obligations," Suresh said. He said the SIFCC put forth its view before the Bollywood producers, saying that they were not against the event. "Innocent Tamils have been killed and Sri Lankan government is creating an atmosphere that everything is normal. The reality must be shown to the world and this was not the time to do a show like this," Suresh said. He said the decision to go ahead with the boycott was taken in Chennai yesterday after their return from Mumbai. Meanwhile, several Bollywood personalities like Riteish Deshmukh, Lara Dutta, Boman Irani, Vivek Oberoi, tennis player Mahesh Bhupati have already reached Colombo. IIFA brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan, who is currently in Gujarat along with his actor son Abhishek and actress daughter-in-law Aishwarya, will skip the IIFA weekend.