Wide release of Onam movies hangs in balance
Meet held on Saturday failed to reach consensus on the issue
Alappuzha: There seems to be a certain sense of uncertainty over the fate of Onam release movies, with a meeting held on Saturday failing to reach a consensus on the issue of “wide release”. The new issue has come in the wake of the Film Exhibitors' Federation thumbing down the Government move to implement the wide release of new movies which was supported by six organisations in the industry including Film Producers Association, Film Distributors Association, Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce, Cine Exhibitors Association, Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes and the Film Employees Federation of Kerala, in 2012.
According to Kerala Cine Exhibitors Association president V. Mohanan, a meeting to be held on September 3 will be crucial. “If there will not be a decision in favour of wide releasing, the producers, who have spent crores anticipating the Onam rush, will be pushed into losses. The helpless producers will go any extent if the September 3 meeting fails. The Exhibitors Federation, which is still mum on the issue, had played a major role in derailing all deals which were arrived at with several organisations in the industry a couple of years ago.
The adamant federation is in fact killing the rights of film lovers. Look at the number of cinemas which has come down substantially from over 1,400 in 1997 to about 450 in 2014. If you reserve a movie release to cinemas of a particular class, people from small towns where there are hardly any A class cinemas, will certainly be denied their right to watch a movie. Hence, the association stands firm in its concept of wide release”, he said.
P.V. Basheer Ahamed, president, Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation, said it would not budge from its stance. “Why should exhibitors affiliated to the federation, and who provided considerable financial support to various movies, suffer losses by supporting the wide release of new movies?”, he asked.Reiterating the federation’s stand, he claimed the screening of new movies in ‘B' and ‘C' class centres would adversely affect the prospects of cinemas affiliated to his organisation. “The producers collect advance from members of the Exhibitors' Federation (a combine of ‘A' class theatres) to make new movies. So we deserve to have the movies released exclusively in our theatres”, he said.
When asked if the federation’s adamant attitude would be a reason for shutting down C and D class theatres, he claimed that if there would be quality films, people would naturally flow to cinemas even if they were to be screened months after their release.
The federation had scuttled the Government move supporting the wide release of movies in 2012. Following this, the federation went on allotting wide releases only in five new cinemas in 2012, countering the decision of the committee appointed by the Government that 55 new cinemas were eligible for wide release.
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