Recession strikes Bollywood; Yash Raj Films lays-off 20

MUMBAI: The list of sectors afflicted by recession blues seems to be getting longer.

After the airline, financial, textile and IT sectors, it is now the turn of Bollywood to be struck by recession.

Leading film-making company, Yash Raj Films (YRF), is understood to have laid-off 20 long-serving employees recently as a part of its cost-cutting initiatives.

"The company recently asked 20 employees to leave, saying that it was not in a position to retain them any longer," an affected YRF employee told PTI here.

These employees had been working with the company for the past five years, the employee said.

Amongst those asked to leave include executive producers and others, the employee said.

When contacted, the company said that it would not comment on the issue.

YRF, spearheaded by ace film-maker Yash Chopra, is one of the leading film-producing companies in the country.

It recently released the Shahrukh Khan-starrer, 'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi'.

Its much-talked about film 'New York' featuring John Abraham and Katrina Kaif, is slated for release this year.

One of the signs of a slowdown in Bollywood was clearly manifest in the low-key promotions of several recent releases including 'Ghajini', 'Rab Ne Bada Di Jodi' and 'Chandni Chowk to China'.

A few film-makers have already slowed down on new projects while a few others have resorted to cost-cutting measures including renegotiating contracts.