The Hindu Business Line : Govt can subsidise Kannada films, says theatre body

Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy, President of the Karnataka Cinema Theatre Owners' Association (left), and Mr Dhananjay K.V, Secretary, at a press conference in Bangalore on Tuesday. — G.R.N. Somashekar

Bangalore , Aug. 31

IN a bid to end the imbroglio concerning the film industry in the State, the Karnataka Cinema Theatre Owners' Association has drafted an "Interim Resolution", which, if implemented, will work "towards the betterment of the Kannada film industry."

"We're looking at the root of the problem and have decided to fight the battle ourselves," said Mr Dhananjay K V, Secretary of the KCTOA.

According to this `Interim Resolution' the Association has requested the State Government to earmark the entire revenue derived by it from the entertainment taxes on non-Kannada films as a subsidy budget for Kannada films.

Mr Dhananjay said the Government collects about Rs 33 crore every year as entertainment tax from non-Kannada films. "The Government can keep Rs 3 crore as collection expense and disburse the balance as subsidy to Kannada films," he said.

Every year, the budget (of Rs 30 crore) can fund about 150 Kannada films at Rs 20 lakh subsidy for every film. This is against the present budget of Rs 2 crore which is funding 20 films with a subsidy of Rs 10 lakh each. This will make the Kannada film industry one of the healthiest, Mr Dhananjay pointed out.The Association has decided to take the entire responsibility of disbursing the funds to the Kannada film industry. Citing the example of BATF, Mr Dhananjay said that private participation was not new to the State. "We have been extremely successful in doing it and this is inevitable," he said.

Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy (son of the former Prime Minister, Mr H.D. Deve Gowda), who was today elected as the Association President, said that for success of the Kannada film industry, the producers, the distributors and the exhibitors would need to work together. "You certainly cannot succeed by using force," he said.

UNI reports: Today, 47 more theatres suspended shows, joining the ranks of 21 theatres, which brought down the curtains indefinitely yesterday, taking the total number of theatres that have suspended shows to 68.

Besides English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam movies enjoy good patronage in this cosmopolitan city, which had a sizeable floating population whose major means of entertainment is films. Out of the 115 theatres in the city, 75 exhibit only non-Kannada films. The State Government earned an entertainment tax revenue of Rs 33 crore last year, as against Rs 65 crore earned five years ago.

Theatres in Bellary, where predominantly Telugu films were patronised by the cine-going public, are also planning similar action.

According to a theatre owner, the decision became inevitable as films were not available and theatre owners were being forced to suspend shows. The State had, during the last three weeks, not seen the release of new non-Kannada films after an expert panel was constituted by the Government.