Guwahati, Nov 15: The "ban" on Hindi films imposed by the extremist United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) has come into force today. The Ulfa, along with eight militant outfits of the North East had on August 15 announced ban on Hindi films from November 15 describing them as "cultural invasion in its worst form". However, the members of film organisations and movie stars of Assam have decided to defy the ban. They also went on a hunger strike on Thursday to protest the move by the insurgent outfit.
The film fraternity has held that the banned outfit was neither the cultural police nor equipped to protect local culture "when they avidly patronise pornographic movies as evidenced by the recovery of blue film cassettes from their camps".
Ulfa has also been criticised for singling out Hindi films ignoring English ones or videos of "vulgar remixes of Hindi songs telecast by music channels which they also watch".
The ban is expected to affect 6000 film industry employees and lead to shutting down of most of the 150 registered halls since only 15 to 19 regional movies are produced annually. Bureau Report