Malayalam film artistes agree to reduce remuneration
Movie artistes in Kerala on November 12 agreed to reduce their remunerations to help the crisis-ridden Malayalam film industry suffering yearly losses of over Rs 150 crore.
A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) and Producers’ Association here but the quantum of reduction has not been decided.
Malayalam superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal, Dileep, Mukesh, Jagdeesh, AMMA President, Innocent, were among those who participated in the talks.
Kerala Film Producers’ Association President Sabu Cherian and Secretary Suresh Kumar said the budget of a super- star film would not cross Rs 3.5 crore against an earlier budget of Rs 5 crore. It was also decided that the film director and producer will have to give the script to the actors 45 days ahead of commencement of shooting. No mobile-phone would be allowed in shooting locations.
The Producers’ Association, in its general body last month, decided to initiate stringent cost-cutting measures, including reducing production cost of superstars’ films to below Rs 3.5 crore per film. About 60 per cent of the production costs go towards the remuneration of artistes, industry sources said.
Already, two films starring Mohanlal have been shelved as the production cost was working out to over Rs 5 crore. Of the 53 films released since January last, only three – Hariharnagar, Bhagyadevatha and Magandae Achan – have done well and recovered the production costs, they said.
Big business houses should support regional cinema
Marathi filmmaker Sunil Sukhtankar, who explores the power of Right to Information Act in his film Ek Cup Chai, said that big business houses should come forward to help meaningful regional cinema.
“After Shwaas became the official entry from India for Oscars in 2004, a lot of money is being pumped into the Marathi film industry. But it is mainly for comedy movies, which chiefly target the rural audience,” Sukhtankar said.
“The problem of poor marketing still persists for meaningful cinema. Once they have already produced the movie, even the producers are reluctant to go in for a marketing blitzkrieg which is the need of the hour,” he added.
Sukhtankar, whose Ek Cup Chai was featured at the on-going Mumbai Film Festival, said that big business houses should take more interest in marketing regional movies.
Noted Malayalam director and one of the jury members at the festival, Shaji Neelakantam Karun, attributed the fall of regional cinema to the “laziness” of the audience. “Regional cinema is slowly disappearing. People are watching whatever is easily available to them. They are not making any effort to watch their (regional) cinema,” Shaji, whose Piravi (The Birth) won him the prestigious Camra d’Or Mention d’honneur at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, said.
