Mumbai film industry workers' union decides to boycott shootings in Maldives

The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) on Wednesday urged the film producers to call off all their shooting bookings in Maldives and instead choose alternate locations in India. The federation condemned the remarks made by three Maldivian ministers against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that its members had decided to boycott Maldives for their shooting locations. "Instead, the FWICE appeals to its members to choose similar locations in India for their shooting purpose and contribute towards developing tourism in India."

"All the producers in India and over the globe are hereby advised not to plan any shootings or production activities in Maldives. We all stand in strong support towards our Prime Minister and our Nation."

This comes just two days after the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) urged tourism and trade associations to stop promoting the Maldives and divert all enquiries to the Indian islands of Lakshadweep. "Please divert all such enquiries to Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands which are even better than Maldives in many ways and other destinations which can be promoted in the Indian ocean area are Srilanka, Mauritius, Bali, Phuket etc," said Subhash Goyal, who heads the Expert Committee on Tourism at ICC. He requested tour operators to suspend their operations in the Maldives in view of the "anti-India feelings" expressed by the country's deputy ministers. 

The expert committee head also appealed to all the Indian carriers operating to Maldives to suspend their operation and "seriously think of operating to Lakshadweep Islands under the Udaan Scheme". He said the members of FHRAI (Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India) and the Hotel Association of India should seriously look at investing in Lakshadweep Islands as "in the future, it will give them better returns on their investment than the Maldives".