A leading industry lobby, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has protested the allegedly negative depiction of India Inc in Madhur Bhandarkar's Bollywood film "Corporate".

"The film paints the entire corporate sector with the same brush, portraying the industrial houses as ruthless, heartless and hand-in-glove with corrupt politicians. Nothing can be further from truth," ASSOCHAM secretary general D.S. Rawat said in a statement Monday.

He pointed to the fact that the Indian film industry itself was getting more and more corporatised and many production houses had their shares listed and traded on stock markets.

Rawat expressed concern over the film's depiction of the corporate sector as heartless and the manner the "woman protagonist has been shown as a sacrificial goat is just not the real picture of India Inc which has some of the most respectable leaders to boast."

On the filmmaker's claim of having based the storyline and script on his research, Rawat said: "While there is a research to the extent of using certain jargons like 'bottom-line', and 'takeover bids', there is no genuine effort to project the real face of the Indian industrial houses.

"The India growth story would not have been possible but for the contribution of a host of corporate leaders," he added.

Citing industry leaders like Infosys founder and chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy, Wipro head Azim Premji, Mittal Steel chairman L.N. Mittal as role models for the middle-class youngsters, Rawat stated that they are the real faces behind the country's economic upsurge as they personify the values of India Inc.