T Siva, one of the producers dissenting against the TFPC and its actor-president Vishal Krishna, has said that he has been disqualified from the council, and Vishal has no right to do so. The producers of small budget films have also sent a legal complain to Vishal asking him to take action against piracy.
This comes after the producers’ claimed internal mismanagement in the Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council, and locked the council offices, following which Vishal sent legal notices to the dissenting producers.
Talking to Tamil Hindu regarding the issue, Siva said, “Vishal did not keep the promise he made during the presidential elections. He is working selfishly for his political benefits and does not possess a good relationship with the state government. Whoever is the head of the council should have a friendly relationship with the government. Vishal does not have any rights to disqualify us from the council. We will approach this legally and face this notice in court.”
Meanwhile, a legal complaint has been sent to the TFPC by producers Sakthi Vasan (Raja Ranguski) and Mohammed Assam (Oru Kuppai Kadhai), stating that the council authorities have failed to protect small-budget film producers from piracy, and no action against piracy has been taken.
The letter states that the producers’ films Raja Ranguski, Oru Kuppai Kadhai and Thodra were leaked online by the theaters Kavithalya and Ellora in Karur and Gomathi in Mayiladuthurai, on the day of its release. The producers say that if action is not taken against the theatre management and piracy websites like Tamilrockers, Tamil Gun etc., they will organize in-house agitation and indefinite starving protest at the council office.
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Earlier, in December, the group of dissenting producers had locked the office premises in T Nagar, Chennai and handed over the keys to the police. When Vishal attempted to break the lock and enter by force, he was held back by the police. He had a heated argument with the police officials following which he was reportedly arrested.
The dissenting producers criticised Vishal saying financial irregularities had become commonplace since the actor took over as TFPC president. They demanded that Vishal must resign immediately, and a fresh round of elections should be held. They also approached the Tamil Nadu CM Edapadi Palaniswamy regarding this. They alleged that money in the TFPC account was missing, and Vishal did not kept up the promises he made during elections.
Vishal, however, filed a case against dissenting producers seeking explanation for locking the TFPC office. The Madras High Court ruled in favour of Vishal and gave the producers a 15-day time period to offer explanation. Following this, it was also speculated Vishal was going to disqualify the dissenting producers from the council. But this was not confirmed.