In a shocking development, the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) on Wednesday announced that come March 2018, no film will be allowed to release in the two states. Apparently, the decision has been taken to protest against the exorbitant charges levied by digital service providers (DSP), which has been a cause of several concerns to producers for quite some time now.
The TFCC also informed digital service providers such as UFO, Qube, PXD and Scrabble about their decision to shut down all theatres and stall the release of all new movies from March.
TFCC President, P Kiran says, “We have been planning to escalate the matter since a long time, and we have eventually informed the DSPs about our decision.”
Throwing light on the matter, Muthyala Ramdoss, General Secretary, TFCC, explains, “Currently, the distributors are paying the charges for digital projection (about '20,000 rupees per week) of the film. Actually, these charges are to be borne either by the exhibitor or DSPs because the latter is installing the equipment in the premises of the former. So how are the distributors concerned? All the people — the producer council, the distributor council, exhibitor council and studio council — are important to us.”
With several films scheduled to release next summer, and hundreds of crores of rupees riding on them, how does one deal with the situation?
Commenting on the decision, Laxman, Assistant Vice- President, UFO, Hyderabad, says, “We normally attend all the meetings conducted by the Film Chamber, and always work under their guidance. I guess there was a miscommunication and we can sort out the issues amicably.”
Among the big-budget films scheduled for a 2018 summer release is Ram Charan’s Rangasthalam. However, Y. Ravi Shankar, one of the producers of the film, says, “Definitely such decisions will impact us, but when the distributor is bearing most of the risk, ethically, we need to support him. Hopefully things will be resolved.”
