Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt is currently riding the house of success as her Hollywood debut movie Heart of Stone is taking the streaming world by storm. Starring Gal Gadot, Jamie Dornan, Alia Bhatt and more, Heart of Stone became the most-watched movie 1 day after its release on Netflix. Heart of Stone was released silently on streaming giant Netflix on August 11, 2023. It was one of the quite rare incidents when the star cast of Heart of Stone did not really promote the release of their own movie. Ever since the movie Heart of Stone was released on the streaming giant, fans around the world lavished their praise on Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt who plays the character of Keya Dhawan in the movie. However, fans were left puzzled to notice why the Bollywood actress did not promote the movie much despite of the fact that she plays an integral part in the movie. As a result, Alia Bhatt was asked the same question during her Ask Me Anything session on Instagram and the Bollywood actress did not hold back to reveal the answer.
Why Alia Bhatt did not promote Heart of Stone?
The answer is the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. Alia Bhatt took to her Instagram story and answered the query of a fan by saying, "As a team, we stand behind the SAG-AFTRA strike, and as a mark of solidarity, we haven't been promoting the movie. However, I've been seeing all your messages and the outpouring of love. Thankful for you all. Sending all the love right back to you." Now, the question arises what is the SAG-AFTRA strike? And why the SAG-AFTRA strike has forced the actors to not even promote their movies? Let's understand in detail-
What is SAG-AFTRA strike?
The strike was started by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), who asked the biggest streaming companies for a more equitable division of earnings and better working conditions. As a result, Hollywood is witnessing one of the biggest strikes in more than 60 years with 1,60,000 performers in Los Angeles stopped working at midnight, preventing actors from appearing in movies or even promoting ones they had already finished. And hence Alia Bhatt and the team of Heart of Stone did not promote their own movie. Therefore, it was silently released without any major announcement.
Apart from equitable division of earnings & better working conditions, the SAG-AFTRA strike also has an objective to protect actors from being replaced by digital replicas funding Artificial Intelligence (AI) and computer-generated faces and voices. Notably, with the piercing of AI into every sector, there are applications and software available in the market which can emulate a singer's voice and made it sing like them if instructed with a certain emotion. Apart from this, the union requests to include asking streaming providers to give actors more base pay and residuals—payments granted to actors from reruns of movies and TV episodes they have acted in. It is pertinent to mention here that numerous actors have expressed their support for the strike, including Jamie Lee Curtis, a veteran of Hollywood, and actors Bob Odenkirk from "Better Call Saul", Cynthia Nixon from "Sex and the City," and many others. Now, the star cast of Heart of Stone has also joined the list of supporting the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Day 108 of the WGA strike, day 35 of the SAG-AFTRA strike, my 34th day picketing
— Avishai ✡ Is On Strike (@avishaiw) August 17, 2023
Flight attendant solidarity picket!
(Selfie with Cosmo Carlson) pic.twitter.com/nIKL5zDXo1
What is the current status of the SAG-AFTRA Strike?
As of now, the Writers Guild, which has been on strike since May 2, resumed negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. As per LA Times, major studios and streamers, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, are motivated to end the work stoppages that have roiled Hollywood. The report suggest that the actors’ strike dramatically upped the stakes, wreaking havoc on production plans and creating more economic uncertainty for the major companies, including streaming giant Netflix, the Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global and NBCUniversal. Not only this, the economic turmoil has been felt throughout Hollywood, with businesses including prop houses and other small firms struggling to make ends meet, prompting politicians such as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to demand an end to the strikes.
Notably, the report quoted Todd Holmes, associate professor of entertainment media management at Cal State Northridge, who estimated that the economic damage of the dual strikes on California was at least $3 billion so far and that it could balloon to $4 billion to $5 billion if the strikes were to stretch into October. Netflix co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos and Sony Pictures chief Tony Vinciquerra were initially among the most active executives to try to facilitate compromises. In short, there are negotiations going on with a sole air to end the strike as soon as possible.