Tamil film industry strike called off!
There is good news for fans of Tamil cinema. The strike that had brought the Tamil Film industry to a grinding halt has been withdrawn by the Tamil Film Producers Council.
The strike has been withdrawn as an amicable solution to the disagreements between the Producers Council, the Theatre Owners Association and the Digital Service Providers has been found through the government-mediated tripartite talks that were held on Tuesday.
It may be recalled that the TFPC had given a call to strike work from March 1 over the exhorbitant prices DSPs were charging as Virtual Print Fee (VPF). The TFPC said that the producers were being fleeced by DSPs in the name of VPF. To protest this, they first announced that no new films would release in the state from March 1. They further intensified the strike by saying that all work related to films, including pre production, production and post production work would also stop. The Producers also were miffed that there was no transparency with regard to occupancy levels in theatres during a film’s release, and subsequently its run.
Despite several rounds of talks between the three warring factions, no amicable settlement could be reached. Finally, an appeal was made to the state government to intervene in the issue.
Accordingly, on Tuesday, representatives from the TFPC, the Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association and the Digital Service Providers arrived at the State Secretariat for talks in the presence of state ministers Kadambur Raju and K C Veeramani. The talks, which began at around 11 in the morning, came to an end only at around 9 in the night. Eventually, it was announced that the strike was being called off as an amicable solution to the problems had been found.
Speaking to reporters after the talks, Minister Kadambur Raju said, “An amicable solution has been found to the problems. The strike that has been going on for over a month has come to an end. The producers have agreed to release films. They have requested for two days time to decide the order of release of films. The films will soon be released. Shootings too will resume.”
Talking to reporters, actor Vishal, who is the president of the Tamil Film Producers Council, thanked the Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisamy for his “fullest co operation.” The actor said that the producers request that all theatres maintain transperancy with regard to occupancy levels has been accepted by the government.
He said a government order to this effect would be passed soon. As a result, ticket prices would be decided on the basis of the film’s value and scale.
Vishal said that the practice of charging audiences Rs 30 for online reservation will be stopped as it was an additional burden to viewers.
Instead, audiences can book tickets online through the TFPC site for a negligable fee. The TFPC would also do the mastering itself, he said.
The Producer Council President also said that the E cinema rates had been brought down from Rs 10,000 to Rs 5000. Moreover, a Qube Full Run, which used to cost Rs 22,000 earlier, would now cost producers just Rs 10000.
