BANGALORE: The future seems bleak for non-Kannada film screen if the government agrees to the decisions arrived at by the panel headed by the chief secretary KP Pandey on 23 August.
The controversial decisions wherein the panel has given in to the demands of the Karnataka Film Producers Association (KFPA) and the Karnataka Film Directors Association (KFDA) that non-Kannada Films will be released in Karnataka only after seven weeks from the date of release in their own states and that only six prints of each film would be permitted for the state would benefit only a few big Kannada producers and highly paid actors, claimed an industry source.
“The small budget Kannada film makers may have to follow the practice prevalent in the USA – release the films on the small screen only, since most small budget Kannada films don’t even pay back the rentals of the theaters, let alone make any profits for the producers or distributors, and the what of lack of quality Kannada films even some big budget ones, let alone the quantity required for all the theaters across the state. How can a theater survive? We can foresee conversion of many theaters to malls and shopping bazaars if these unconstitutional rules are passed and enforced by the state,” said one Bangalore based theatre owner.
Non-Kannada film theater owners and exhibitors are unhappy about the fact that they don’t even have adequate and proper representation in the committee. Decisions are taken only to benefit a select few and the government, if it caves in to the demands will be doing a grave injustice to the exhibitors, theater owners and distributors, the common man who will have a limited choice of films to view. A majority of the denizens of a cosmopolitan city like Bangalore will be forced to stop going to the movies, they allege.
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