BOLLYWOOD film producers are going on indefinite strike this weekend, refusing to release new films after failing to resolve differences with multiplex owners over their share of box office takings. Both sides refuse to budge.

India's $US2.1 billion ($3 billion) a year Hindi-language movie industry is feeling the fallout from the global economic slowdown as audiences dwindle.

"It is unfortunate and a reality now. We are going on strike from April 4," said a producer, Mukesh Bhatt. Two months of discussions with multiplex owners had failed to find a solution, he said.

Among the delayed new releases are Bhatt's Jashn, Yash Raj's New York and Anil Kapoor's Short Kut. Other studios have shelved promotional work and publicity.

At issue is the producers' demand for a 50 per cent share of revenue earned from their films, as in other countries.

But multiplex owners are unwilling to give up their current cut, which can be as high as 60 per cent, saying they are only prepared to share takings equally if a film does well.

Producers complain the multiplex owners have effectively formed a cartel and have been negotiating unfair deals with filmmakers.

Multiplex cinemas have taken off in India in the past five years. There are 240, with a total of 849 screens. Many have sprung up in new, Western-style shopping malls in big cities and thanks to higher ticket prices - often more than three times that at a single screen cinema - they generate about 65 per cent of film revenues.

In most countries, multiplex owners split the revenue equally, "so why not India?" said a producer-director, Yash Chopra.

But Tushar Dhingra, head of the Big Cinema multiplex chain promoted by Indian corporate giant Anil Ambani, said their argument against the producers was "very simple".

"If a film does well we are willing to pay 50:50 revenue to producers but unfortunately if a film does not do well then we cannot pay that kind of money to them," he said.