subscribe: Posts | Comments

Indian actress’s pregnancy sparks debate over no-pregnancy clause

0 comments

Summary of story from The Times of India, June 30, 2011

Recent pregnancy news from Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has sparked a debate about whether the Bollywood producers should introduce a no-pregnancy clause in movie contracts similar to Hollywood practice.

Apparently, in the history of Hindi cinema, only one producer has done this.

Subhash Ghai had a clause in his contract with Madhuri Dixit stating she couldn’t get married or pregnant during the making of ‘Khalnayak’, when she was in a romantic relationship with Sanjay Dutt.

One prominent Indian film director, Mahesh Bhatt, says it would be foolish to have such a clause. “It is the leading lady’s privilege to get pregnant. In B-town, the real contract is the unspoken one, being a member of the Film Producers Guild of India I’d refrain from this absurd exercise.”

Indian TV and film producer Ekta Kapoor says: “As a woman I know pregnancy is a very happy moment and I can’t think like a producer in such a situation.”

WVoN co-editor comment: I am pleasantly surprised that Indian film industry sounds much more sensitive to this natural and sometimes unintentional occurrence in a woman’s life than profit-driven Hollywood.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *