Bollywood movie Crook:It’s Good to be Bad which revolves around racist attacks on Indians in Melbourne, has been slammed by both Indian students and local officials for the "unfair and incorrect" portrayal of the Australian city.
Gautam Gupta, spokesman for the Indian Students Association (FISA), dubbed the Emraan Hashmi starrer "immature", saying that the misrepresentation could inflame hostility towards the Indian community.
"It is the wrong representation of Melbourne, obviously the film-makers have not done proper research. I think things here have been improving, and the government is taking action and the film could hurt all that," said Gupta.
"Melbourne is not the Bronx. Like any movie, whether it is Hollywood or Bollywood, they take an issue and show the extreme side of it," he added.
Officials also objected to suggestions that people in Melbourne, capital of Victoria state, were racist.
"We are not racist here in Victoria. In fact it is absolutely completely the contrary. We are one of the most diverse societies in the world." state Police Minister James Merlino told the Herald-Sun newspaper.
A slew of attacks on Indian students prompted protests in Melbourne and Sydney last year and the row strained diplomatic relations between the two countries. A recent report claimed that enrolment of Indians in Australian universities may decline by 80 per cent in 2011, because of the bad press generated after the attacks on Indians.(PTI)
