When the Hindi film industry went on strike in 1986

On 21 October, the twelfth day of the strike, a cavalcade of about 150 cars and trucks gathered in the Shivaji Park area. Producers, directors, distributors, actors, singers, songwriters and technicians crammed into them. Many preferred to walk.

The march was a multi-starrer. Prominent participants included V. Shantaram, Sunil Dutt, Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna, Rohini Hattangadi, Raj Babbar, Tina Munim, Anil Kapoor, Anil Dhawan, Suresh Oberoi, Govinda, Khushboo, Farah, Meenakshi Seshadri, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Sanjay Khan, Akbar Khan, Yash Chopra, Mithun Chakraborty, Shashi Kapoor, and many more. Rajesh Khanna was the press convener of the action committee.

Wrestler-turned-actor Dara Singh said, rather sarcastically, ‘In the past we hit the streets to collect funds for wars, floods and famine. Lekin aaj sarkar ne humein sachmuch sadakon par khada kar diya (But today the government has forced us on to the streets).’

Around 9.30 a.m., the caravan rolled towards Dadar. The march was led by Congress MP and actor Sunil Dutt. Crowds gathered on both sides of the road to catch a glimpse of the stars. Some joined the march. At one point, the number of participants swelled to 40,000. Around 2 p.m., the procession reached Azad Maidan. Then the bandwagon moved towards Mantralaya but...

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