The Tamil Film Producers’ Council and Distributors’ Council of Salem district have decide to reduce the number of digital prints sold to theatres in and around Salem, with 45 prints for Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and other actors’ films, and 35 for the rest. The new rule will come into effect from today.
The notice, issued following an urgent meeting by TFPC this morning, says that 45 digital prints will be sold to seven theatres in Salem town, two each in Hosur, Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Namakkal, Kumarapalayam, Tiruchengodu, and one in other areas.
This is the count for films starring Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Vijay, Ajith, Suriya, Karthi, Sivakarthikeyan, Vishal, Dhanush, Simbu, Vijay Sethupathi, Jayam Ravi, Raghava Lawrence and Vikram. For other actors and all actresses, the print count has been reduced to 35.
The notice further says to support small budget films, producers of these films will be charged a service tax of 3 percent only.
Announcement from #TFPC #TamilCinema ! @TFPCprnews ! @TFPCTN ! #Salem ! @VishalKOfficial ! #CineemaJunction ! @prabhu_sr ! pic.twitter.com/wopLmsHDEw
— CineemaJunction (@CineemaJunction) July 29, 2019
According to TFPC records, there are 110 theatres under Salem district, and most Tamil films used to release in 70 to 80 theatres.
Speaking to Silverscreen, producer T Siva, one of the members of the Tamil Nadu government-appointed ad-hoc committee who held these discussions, said that the decision was taken to reduce losses for them and to avoid blackmails from theatre owners. “Mainly in areas around Krishnagiri, theatre owners usually gang up to make us offers. If we want to sell prints to 10 theatres in the city, they won’t reach an agreement until we it sell to 30 others too, with whom they have tie-ups.”
He said that reduction in the number of theatres will not affect anyone’s business, but create a healthy demand and increase the number of shows. Further, the Salem Distributors’ Council will manage the licensing and screen allocation for small-budget films for 3 percent service charges, as opposed to the 10 percent they used to pay.
On categorising actors based on their star value, T Siva said they will have to determine based on the demand for an actor’s film. He said, “But we will create exceptions, for instance, when Nayanthara makes a heroine-centric film, or if Mani Ratnam or Shankar’s films release.”
Image Courtesy: India Glitz
