Hardly a week after Amitabh Bachchan has said that he would prefer to call Bollywood the Hindi film industry, rather than Bollywood, two of India's two versatile actors Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri have vehemently too have protested the use of the term 'Bollywood' to describe the Indian film industry, saying it was perceived to be "derogatory" and "humiliating".
Both the award-winning actors, who would turn 57 this year, were speaking at a function 'Life and Times in Indian Cinema' at the Nehru Centre in London organised by the UK-based film organisation India-EU Film Initiative, to honour them.
Lord Meghnad Desai, renowned economist and film buff, honoured Shah and Puri with Roman Atticus trophies. Jagmohan Mundhra, noted film director, presided over the function which was a packed gathering.
Attacking the western media for calling them 'Bollywood actors' they said Indian film industry was not happy with the term Bollywood as it was perceived to be derogatory and humiliating.
They said they hate to be called Bollywood actors. They also urged the film community to take notice of the issue. "The term Bollywood was used to mock us by the western press. And it's just an indication of our own idiocy that we still use it," said Naseeruddin Shah, a winner of several national and international awards.
Om Puri, who received an Order of British Empire(OBE) for his acting talent from the British Queen, said "Bollywood, whenever western people refer to it, they mean Hindi films, they say 'Oh those song and dance films'. So it is a derogatory term. These terms are created by media."
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