‘Who says men can’t cry? They can when they are in pain. We did when theatres were shut,’says RJ Balaji

Pointing out that theatres being shut down for four consecutive days in the state was something unprecedented, actor R J Balaji said that the fact that the theatres were being reopened today had brought great happiness to not only the cast but also to around 500 people who had worked on two films — Vanamagan and Ivan Thandhiran.

At an urgently called press conference by the teams of Ivan Thandiran and Vanamagan, actor RJ Balaji, whose Ivan Thandiran released last Friday and was well on its way to becoming a superhit before being affected by the theatre strike, thanked the media, the Tamil Nadu government, the theatre owners association and the Tamil Film Producers Council for reopening theatres and bringing back the films in them.

“I don’t know if I should speak some of the things that greatly affected me during these four days when the theatres were shut down. I felt like talking about them here,” he said before going on to make a passionate plea to audiences to support the two good films, Vanamagan and Ivan Thandiran, that have been badly affected by the theatre strike.

“Ivan Thanthiran is a film that was made amidst great financial difficulty. The director of the film, Kannan, has also produced it. Shooting every single day was difficult. In fact, if shooting had to begin by 2 in the afternoon, Kannan would be able to salvage the money necessary for shooting that day’s portions only by around 12.45 or 1 pm in the afternoon. Be it an artiste or a location, we tried to use it as much as possible and made the film in the most efficient manner possible.

“We watched this film some 20 days before its release. After watching it, I said, ‘Ít is a nice film sir. It is okay.’ I said only this much although I found the film to be exceptionally good. I said that because I thought that if I said it was too good, it would be like I was saying so because I had acted in it. It was only after the press show that we gained a huge amount of confidence. Several mediapersons watched this film and said it was very nice. That gave us a lot of hope. Three days the film ran and for those three days, be it the social media, college students or those in the IT industry, anybody who was from 20 to 35 gave us so much support. Suddenly on Sunday night, they announced that the film will not be there in theatres from the next day. It was very disappointing for me and for the 300 odd people who had worked on the film,” Balaji said.

“We weren’t the only ones. Director Vijay too has faced a lot of difficulties and made Vanamagan. He has invested a huge amount of money and made this film. They were expecting more collections in the second week than in the first when the theatre strike affected his film as well. He is my close friend. So, I know how he felt every day. In fact, we see several films in which they say, Men must not cry. All that is a lie. Men can cry. Anybody can cry if they are in pain. Several people on this stage have cried so much during the last week. We have cried.

“The only blessing is that by God’s grace, these films are back in theatres from Friday and we have got this weekend. My request to the public is please go watch these films Ivan Thanthiran and Vanamagan in theatres,” RJ Balaji added.

The comedian, whose performance in the film Ivan Thandiran has come in for praise, said, ”When there is a problem in the film industry, the public feels, ‘You guys earn so many crores. So, what’s your problem in paying tax? In this context, I’d like to make two points. One pertains to a sequence in my film Ivan Thanthiran itself. In this sequence, a small time vendor on Richie street tells some IT guys, ‘You IT guys earn so many lakhs and drink but you come and bargain with us.’ At that point, my character tells the vendor,’An IT job is not easy. Do you know how difficult it is? My character then goes on to explain their difficulties for about a minute during that monologue and finally concludes it by saying, ‘For even IT guys, money doesn’t grow on trees.’ This same logic applies to the film industry as well. Why the real state of affairs about the film industry is not known is because of the film industry itself. Every film gives the impression that it is a superhit. we have a success party for every film. That gives the impression to the public that there is a lot of money and they feel, ‘Why aren’t they paying tax when they earn so much?’

“The actual truth is that this isn’t real. There are a lot of problems here too. Yes, it is a glamorous profession and people do make more money than what the average common man makes. But that number is a very small one. This money goes to only those few faces you know and recognise on screen. But there are lakhs of people who are behind the scenes and who are dependent on this industry for their livelihood.

“Just like how you get your salary after working all through the month, there are lakhs of guys here who will get paid for a day only if they hold a light all day long or push a trolley all day.This is about an industry which has lakhs of such people. If there is no shooting for four days, they will have to go hungry because they do not work for monthly salaries but daily wages. For the sake of lakhs of such people, please support these films Vanamagan and Ivan Thanthiran by watching them in theatres,” he said.