Shot is not ready

“Why should the producers pay for the projection equipment while we are already bleeding with the other costs,” asked SR Prabhu, treasurer of the Tamil Film Producers’ Council (TFPC). This question forged an unprecedented unity among producers across south India, leading to the “strike of the decade”, which pitted them against exhibitors and digital service providers (DSPs) in this nearly ₹40,000-crore annual turnover regional film industry. New releases were halted from March 1.

Tamil cinema’s reigning superstar Rajinikanth has in the past spoken openly against the idea of a “strike” in the film industry; he was understandably upset — the strike threatened to disrupt the scheduled release of his film Kaala on April 27.

Led by actor-producer Vishal, who is also the chairperson of TFPC, the strike was essentially about the ever-shrinking balance sheet of the film producers. The FICCI-EY report of 2018 said that domestic collections dropped from ₹996 crore in 2016 to ₹946 crore in 2017.

The digital divide

Tamil film industry started making the transition from analogue print (film reels) to virtual projection 14 years ago. An analogue print costs around ₹60,000; each film typically involved making about 100 prints for distribution, costing ₹60 lakh. For the same price, producers can get 300 virtual ‘prints’ or digital projection units — the cost per unit, at ₹20,000, is known as the virtual print fee (VPF); a large chunk of the VPF — ₹16,000 — goes towards the projection equipment. The DSPs maintain the projection equipment and constantly upgrade them. However, the producers are demanding to know why they are being made to pay the projection cost, that too indefinitely.

After the leading DSP Qube Cinema agreed to slash the VPF by 18-23 per cent, around March 15 the Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada film industries went back to work, but not the Tamil industry.

The TFPC wants a drastic reduction in the projection fee. Joining cause with it, exhibitors (theatre owners) went on a strike from March 16-22 to demand an end to the eight per cent local body tax the State government levied on cinemas. They claim that the additional 18 per cent Goods and Services Tax is adding to their woes. The State government has formed a committee to look into this demand. The interconnectedness of these issues led to a standoff lasting four weeks.

Filmmaker and producer R Kannan is among those worst-affected by the strike. His film Boomerang , starring Atharva Murali, was 90 per cent complete by March 16 when production was halted. “With 15 more days, the entire film will be completed; now, I will have to withstand a loss of several lakh rupees,” he says. Four other films, including one with popular actor Vijay, continued to shoot at locations such as airports and the Victoria public hall in Chennai, as the producers had taken “prior” government permission for filming. Films being shot in foreign locations were given time till March 23 to join the strike.

Packed up: The month-long shutdown in the Tamil film industry was essentially about the ever-shrinkingbalance sheet of the producers, amid falling box-office collections. Photo: R Ravindran

Meanwhile, cinema theatres bore the brunt statewide. “I don’t know how we are going to pay staff salaries... we had to cancel shows as there were no new releases due to the strike; footfalls have dropped to 5-10 per cent on some days,” said R Panneerselvam, president, Tamil Film Exhibitors’ Association. Interestingly, however, theatre owners contend that under the prevailing business model, it is unreasonable for producers in Tamil Nadu alone to demand an exemption on the VPF when their counterparts elsewhere in the world bear the cost.

Who's the real villian?

As the strike played out its long and loss-making trajectory, two factors stood out — the “hero’s journey” of Vishal and the near-monopoly enjoyed by the DSP Qube Cinema. Vishal became the secretary of the South India Film Artistes’ Association in 2015 and won the president’s post at TFPC in 2017. As president, he is determined to demonstrate that he will help the producers save some money.

“He is a leader and a visionary... he will win eventually,” said film producer AR Raihana. Her view was echoed by Chennai-based independent film analyst Ramanujam. This solidarity was expected to have the effect of forcing exhibitors to share costs in the larger interest of the Tamil film industry. However, it appeared that Vishal may not be comfortable talking about reducing his salary, or that of other heroes, towards this cause.

“The film strike should be about the salaries of big stars,” argued Lakshmy Ramakrishnan, independent filmmaker and producer. The challenges of the Tamil film market are manifold. Piracy is an issue that film associations, including the TFPC, and the government agencies are still grappling with.

That actors drawing big fat salaries is a matter of concern for several stakeholders emerged during the conversations for this story.

“The huge salaries — to the tune of several crores of rupees for the superstars — are justified under the pretext that they are the crowd-pullers; in fact, the big stars have to take into account the increased production cost,” Ramakrishnan added. Other film producers concurred. “In Kerala, the top star Mohanlal cannot demand anything more than ₹3 crore for a film; there should be a similar ceiling for Tamil films,” said Satish Kumar, producer, JSK Film Corporation.

Projecting a different story

Chennai-based Qube Cinema is the DSP for 70 per cent of the 1,127 screens across Tamil Nadu. This near-monopoly was gradually achieved through a business model that allegedly put the burden of “hidden” costs on the producers. Senthil Kumar, co-founder of Qube Cinema, denied such allegations. “We have the best service support network — we have 350 support staff working across Tamil Nadu. That is how we dominate the market,” he said. He also pointed out that there were other DSPs in the market.

The producers’ council portrayed the strike as an attempt to “break the nexus between the exhibitors’ cartels and the dominant DSP”. Incidentally, the network of exhibitors was formed to counter the “cartels” of the film distributors, who hold region-wise control over new releases. In 2010, seven cinemas in Karur formed a collective and refused to buy the Rajinikanth-starrer Enthiran .

Refuting the producers’ allegations of a nexus with the DSP, the exhibitors’ association president Panneerselvam countered, “Why should the film producers control every aspect of the film industry?”

The strike has impacted the release of 40 films and another 20 films that are in the post-production stage.

Despite the fallout, the producers’ stand found support among several actors such as Simbhu and Arvind Swamy. While Simbhu insisted on transparency in box-office collections to remedy the situation, Swamy argued that it was not fair that advertisement revenue in cinemas is shared only between the theatres and the DSP. “It is because of the content [the film] given by the producers that people are watching the advertisements; but the producers are conveniently forgotten in the revenue share,” he said.

Qube Cinema questioned why the producers’ group, which agreed to the DSP’s universal business model in other markets, was stubborn about doing away with the VPF in Tamil Nadu.

“Other southern markets such as Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam cinema have agreed for a reduction of 18-23 per cent of the VPF. They resumed work,” said Senthil Kumar.

TFPC treasurer Prabhu, on his part, insisted that the producers were keen to avoid a propaganda war with the DSP and they only want solutions tailored to the needs of the Tamil Nadu market.

“The average lifespan of a film has reduced to two weeks,” he explained. Digital technology has enabled the release of over 220 Tamil films a year. Compare this with the little over 50 that were released a decade ago. Moreover, digital technology has emerged as an enabler of new opportunities for filmmakers. “Digital technology opens up several avenues, be it participation in international film festivals or selling digital rights to players like Netflix or Amazon Prime... the choices have increased,” said Lakshmy Ramakrishnan.

It is in this context that repeat VPF (when the fee is levied for every show) has became an issue globally, including in the European film markets. “The VPF model here is a huge burden on independent filmmakers,” said Leena Manimekalai, another independent filmmaker. The existing model can only favour big films and big producers, she insists. The mix of entrenched interests and digital technology is shutting the doors of equal opportunity for independent filmmakers, agrees John Baburaj, a film journalist.

Show must go on

The producers’ collective chose for its strike a holiday season — a time when exhibitors make most of their money in a year. That spurred the latter to partially cede to the producers’ demands — they agreed to bear a sizeable portion of the VPF in a bid to end the impasse. “We want the industry to thrive... we don’t want to be perceived as the root cause of the problem,” said Abirami Ramanathan, president, Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners’ Association.

The producers are confronting theatre owners over their refusal to regulate ticket prices as per government guidelines, or reveal box-office collections. “This is an attempt to reform the Tamil film industry,” said Vishal. Addressing the issue of actors’ steep salaries, he affirmed that his team was trying to regulate it by asking the cinemas to share the true picture of box-office collections.

“When we know what is the exact collection of each and every star, we can determine the salaries rationally,” he said. The absence of a ceiling for the ticket prices of films starring Rajinikanth, Vijay and Ajith is a major concern for the audience.

“The cinemas here give tokens instead of actual tickets when they charge up to ₹1,000 for a film starring Rajinikanth,” said Dev Anand, an avid film-goer.

Refuting the charge that the producers’ fight was all about gaining control over every aspect of the film market, Vishal insisted that, on the contrary, they want to fight against such a bid by “certain vested interests”.

As the tug-of-war intensified between the different sectors of the film industry, the need clearly was for an efficient system to run the 85-year-old film business in step with the rapidly changing digital ecosystem.

Adding to the concern is the realisation that any closed networks of people can subvert digital technology to their advantage, as has been seen in the case of social networks across the globe. It reinforces the need for all players to work within an ethical framework for the greater common good.

This “film strike of the decade” has spawned conversations about reforming the “system” in Tamil cinema. Meanwhile, actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth appeared to be caught unawares in this swift churn of events, as he found himself ambushed by another ambitious politician from his ilk — Vishal.

Peer Mohamed is the founder and editor, Ippodhu.com, an independent digital media outlet