The cracks are becoming visible once again in the Tamil film industry, which has seen several films facing last minute roadblocks.
In the last few months alone, several movies including actor Kamal Haasan’s Uttama Villain, Silambarasan’s Vaalu and Sivakarthikeyan’s yet-to-be-released Rajini Murugan have all struggled to find a smooth release because of debtors raising financial issues at the last minute.
Couple of days ago, the Tamil Film Exhibitors’ Association had apparently called for a ban, albeit unofficially, on actor Vishal’s Paayum Puli on the grounds that Vendhar Movies, which is distributing the film, is yet to pay the dues to the distributors and exhibitors who suffered a huge loss after buying actor Rajinikanth’s Lingaa, distributed by them.
Reacting to the reports, the president of the Producers Council came out, guns blazing and called for a ‘strike’ on release of Tamil movies on September 4, and all movies on September 11.
Singling out Paneerselvam, who is general secretary of Tamil Nadu Film Exhibitors’ Association, for allegedly causing trouble before the release day, producer Kalaipuli S. Thanu charged that he had made unreasonable demands of producers for the smooth release of the film.
The announcement of a strike has subsequently been withdrawn and sources confirm that new releases on Friday will go on as planned.
In response, Paneerselvam accused Kalaipuli S. Thanu of using the Lingaa controversy to land a film with actor Rajinikanth. “The president of the Producers Council Kalaipuli S. Thanu coerced actor Rajinikanth into signing Kabali under his production house after Thanu said only he can bail him out of the Lingaa mess,” claimed Paneerselvam, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Film Exhibitors’ Association.
Reacting to the possibility of a strike by the producers’ council, a theatre owner said that all parties stand to lose equally. “Such a situation is not good for the film industry,” he said.
Tirupur Subramaniam, who was also involved in doling out the compensation money given by actor Rajinikanth, severely criticised Paneerselvam for making such comments. “If they invested money on their own volition, they have to accept the risk,” he said.
President of Producers Council and general secretary of Exhibitors’ Association trade charges
