Industry heavyweights held talks with cultural affairs minister Pramod Navalkar and Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) P S Pasricha at the IMPPA (Indian Motion Picture Producers' Association) house this morning, and arrived at the decision late in the evening. Shakti Samanta, Yash Chopra, Pahlaj Nihalani, Surinder Kapoor and Pappu Verma, who head various film trade bodies, categorically stated that they were going back to work at the studio only because of assurances by Navalkar and Pasricha that they would be given adequate security cover at the complex.

On February 26, workers claiming alliegance to the BKS got into an arguement with those building amassive set for Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla's company, Dreamz & Films Pvt Ltd. The BKS workers demanded that people from their union be hired on the set. This resulted in a heated argument and a battle between them and workers on the site who belong to the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE). Eventually, several workers from both sides were arrested, and two days later, the industry announced its decision to boycott Film City.

Said Nihalani, ``We told Navalkar that we would not recognise the BKS as a parallel union. And we will return to Film City only when we get an assurance that such incidents will not recur.'' But not everyone is buying Pasricha's assurance that security will be provided to all shooting at the complex. "It's not just about Film City. If I dismantle my set and take it elsewhere, there's no guarantee that things will be any different since these people are trying to make their way into all studios,'' said Rajya Sabha MP Raj Babbar, whose company has erected a huge set atthe complex for a television serial.

But there were others who believed it was best to bury the hatchet and get back to work. Said Yash Chopra, ``We have told the government that we don't recognise this union, and we have been told that we can safely return to work. Right now, they cannot give us anything but assurances. We should take their word for it and only think of taking some action if they fail to honour it.''

Resolving this issue may not be the end of Film City's problems. The studio which was once the hub of all film activity in the city has seen a dramatic drop in business in recent years. In fact, its clientele has now dwindled to long-running television serials shot at permanent sets on the premises. Many blame the exodus to lack of adequate infrastructure facilities, rampant goondaism inside the complex -- slum lords from the region reportedly collect `protection money' from producers -- and labour problems such as the one in question.

And the state government may well have to takesome more concrete steps to ensure that the Hindi film industry doesn't make a permanent shift to safer climes like Hyderabad and Bangalore.