The Tamil Film Producers’ Council called off the strike on Tuesday evening after 48 days, one of the the longest shutdowns that the Tamil film industry have ever faced. The producers’ council had called the strike on March 1 in protest against the Virtual Print Fee (VPF) charged by the Digital Service Providers (DSP).
The strike was called off with renewed terms and conditions in the making, releasing and distribution of films in Kollywood. The decision was taken after a meeting with the ministers of the Tamil Nadu government, Kadambur Raju and K.C Veeramani. Members of the Theatre Exhibitors Association, DSPs and producers’ council were also present at the meeting.
On Wednesday morning, actor and TFPC president Vishal tweeted saying that computerised ticketing will start from June and shooting and movie releasing will start soon. He didn’t specify a date.
/2. My sincere thanks to Fefsi workers n RK Selvamani sir n all producers who stood United for this to https://t.co/FGoMuL7DdP sincere thanks to Kadambur Raju sir n Veeramani sir. Gud times ahead for Tamil cinema.god bless
— Vishal (@VishalKOfficial) April 18, 2018
Yes da "revamp"s over..v r gud 2 go 4 theatrical releases n shoot starts soon 1.Ecinema rates reduced to 50%.D cinema on da way.computerised tcktn fm https://t.co/FygSgCSDDw cinema 2 b 100% https://t.co/RHwEOYJ4yy tcktn 2 b subsidised.flexibility of txtng wil benefit small movies
— Vishal (@VishalKOfficial) April 18, 2018
After the meeting, actor and TFPC president Vishal said during a press meet, “Ticket rates will become flexible as it will depend on the range of the film. Each film’s ticket price will be decided as per the film’s value and scale.”
To reduce the online ticketing charges, the TFPC will start a website for the movie-goers to book tickets online, instead of relying on other websites. The charges could be as low as Rs 4.
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About the VPF rates and DSP charges, Vishal said, “There has been a flat reduction in the VPF rates. Earlier, producers used to pay Rs 9,000 as VPF for e-cinema, but now, it has come down to Rs 5,000. Also, for the full run in the theatres, the rates have come down from Rs 22,000 to Rs 10,000.”
The TFPC president also said that the official announcement on resuming the production and the movie releases will be made on Wednesday. Tamil films are expected to release from April 20. However, it’s not clear which films will be out.
Since March 1, there has been no major Tamil film releases as a result of which many theatres across Tamil Nadu were forced to screen old Tamil films and even IPL matches. Several producers had complained of incurring huge amount of losses due to the complete shut-down. The strike took a huge toll on the daily wage workers associated with Kollywood and its ancillary industries.
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