Murali Krishna CH By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD:Cinema audiences will have to look elsewhere for entertainment, as theatres shut down from Friday in protest against charges levied by Digital Service Providers (DSPs). The members of the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the South film industry hope that DSPs like Qube, UFO, PXD and K Sera Sera digital cinema, among others, will relent and agree to their demand of a complete waiver of the Virtual Print Fee (VPF).

Until this happens, there will be no new releases in any language, and theatres will remain shut. Incidentally, the other film industries -- Tamil, Kannada and Kerala -- are observing no such indefinite shutting down of theatres. “From today, there will be no screening of films, till DSPs accept our demands,” said P Kiran, Chairman of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce.

When asked about the token protests in Karnataka and Kerala, he replied, “No regional film is releasing in Kerala and Karnataka tomorrow. I hope that films of other languages will be stopped from releasing, and these other industries shut down theatres too.”

Producer Suresh Babu, who is heading the JAC, also stated his unhappiness about the disparity in charges between English and regional films. “The DSPs are only charging a processing fee for Hollywood films as compared to `10,000 - 30,000 for a regional film.

This is simply not acceptable and we have refused their proposal of a reduction in VPF. We want it completely removed,” he said.“Even Bollywood production houses like Yash Raj Films have initiated similar talks, and have decided to ask for a waiver of VPF, likely from next year.

As we have completely moved to digital screenings, it’s high time they stopped levying these charges.” The timing of the strike could perhaps not be better, given that this is the exam season, and no big releases are scheduled. The month’s biggest release, ‘Rangasthalam,’ is scheduled for March 30. Pratani Ramakrishna Goud, chairman of the Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce, disagrees that the timing is carefully chosen. “This was decided quite a while back. We alerted all the departments and people concerned across South India about the strike, quite a few months ago. We have genuine grounds for protest and we are all united in this matter. We won’t share film content to single screens or multiplexes until we arrive at a favourable conclusion,” he said.

Ramakrishna Goud believes that this strike will not affect the producers, for, “once the issue is sorted, their losses will be negligible in comparison with what they will make. Sure, there may be some difficulties, but the DSPs, which receive crores on a daily basis, will be more affected. The lack of new releases will hurt them,” says Goud.

K Deepak, a Telugu cinema box office tracker, says the timing will ensure that collections aren’t really atfected. “Traditionally, our films register the lowest collections in March, and so the producers seem to have chosen this period to implement the strike. With films like ‘Awe,’ ‘ Tholi Prema’ and ‘Black Panther’ doing well only in urban centres like Hyderabad, the strike will have only minimal impact in cities. Other regions won’t even feel a pinch. However, those who take theatres on a lease still have to pay rent to the owners; so it would be a difficult situation for them,” said Deepak.

Uma Maheshwara Rao, manager of Vijetha 70MM, Borabanda, paints a gloomy picture. “We will suffer an overall loss of about Rs.1.8 lakhs per week because of this strike. We will lose about a lakh on canteen revenue too.” A source from Sree Mayuri Theatre, RTC X Roads, says they expect a loss of about Rs 20,000 a day, including parking fee, canteen revenue, and ticket collections. “I hope the strike ends soon, and we get back normalcy,” he said, summarising the overall mood in all the South states.

Meanwhile, a QUBE source revealed to us that in a meeting chaired by L Suresh from the Southern film chamber of commerce on February 27, DSPs offered a reduced VPF price of Rs 250 for films releasing in less than 100 screens and that it was accepted by everyone.

“But the next day, TFPC announced that they are going on a strike. They said they are not interested in talking with us anymore, and that they will talk directly with the theatres. They want theatres to buy the projection equipment outright from us. I do not know how logistically feasible that is,” he said. There has, however, been no additional offer for big films after DSPs reduced VPF of 14,000 (disputed by TFPC which claims that the amount offered was 20,000), was rejected.

We have genuine grounds for protest and we are all united. We won’t share film content to single screens or multiplexes until we arrive at a favourable conclusion

P Ramakrishna Goud, chairman of the Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce