ARTISTES SET TO TAKE HEFTY PAY CUTS AS...

Tamil producers crack the whip

The Tamil Film Producers Council has put forth a six-point formula to bring down costs and it mainly deals with the salaries and luxuries of artistes and heroines from Mumbai. The producers have decided that hereafter heroines from Mumbai will not be lodged in five-star hotels and the security guard, ayah, makeup-man, touchup-man, hairdresser, costume designer and cook that come with these girls will not be paid any batta or wages by the production team, and will have to be borne by the artistes. These people accompanying the artistes will be provided food, not rooms by the producers. In case of outdoor shoots, the artiste can bring along escorts but with prior permission from the producer. According to the distributors, it is not necessary for producers to pay more than Rs five lakh to the heroines.

The producers have asked the artistes to inform the council about their commitments to production banners and the priority of the projects that they have given. In many cases, the artistes were found to be taking advance payments and then giving dates to producers who paid up later. This resulted in many producers not aware of their available dates from artistes and what are the other commitments of the artistes. To avoid this, the artistes have to give a list of films that they have committed and the order in which they were giving call sheets. The producers also wanted the artistes to take only ten percent as an advance and rest of the money in instalments to help the producer tide over his shooting expenses.

Ibrahim Rowther, president of the Producers Council, said that even during the days of MGR and Sivaji Ganesan,the producer’s demands were met by these heroes on whom the industry depended upon totally. He hoped that the Artistes Association would agree to this. Vijaykanth, President of Nadigar Sangham, has shot a two-minute film on the menace of VCD piracy and this was shown in all theatres along with Diwali releases. It is a film appealing to the fans to help tackle VCD piracy. In this connection, a meeting with the artistes and the producers took place on October 29 and half day shooting was cancelled.

Meanwhile barring the presence of Rajnikant and Kamal Haasan, all the top artistes of the Tamil film industry attended the meeting of the Nadigar Sangham Artistes Association to discuss the various demands put forth by the Tamil Film Producers Council in the latter’s effort to bring down costs.

The artistes rejected most of the demands made by the producers and president Vijaykant felt these were matters dealt with on a person to person basis, over which the Sangham had no collective role to play. The demand that cellphones should not be used while shooting and that Mumbai artistes should not be lodged in five star hotels were accepted by the Sangham.

Vijaykanth felt that the criticism that artistes were responsible for delay in films was unjustified because the artistes worked non stop to complete films without looking at callsheets and if timings were to be decided then the Sangham felt that hereafter, artistes would work from 9 am to 9 pm only.

Tamil filmdom has plunged into a fresh round of crisis with the artistes rejecting the producers’ demands. The producers’ council, in turn, has stated they will not launch any films till the problem was solved. The Tamil directors’ association and distributors have expressed their support to the producers.

Among other conditions put forth by the producers’ council was that conveyance expenses would not be reimbursed to the artistes if the shoots were in Chennai. The artistes would be offered only ten percent of their fees by way of advances and the rest in instalments.

The artistes have also been asked to provide details of the films they have signed and the exact dates they have committed, to ensure that no producer is bypassed in favour of another. Artistes will also have to return the advances to producers who do not wish to go ahead with the shoots as proposed.

The producers say only five heroes are saleable, while others have been bracketed as those without a market. The saleable heroes were Rajnikant, Kamal Haasan, Vijay, Ajith and Vijaykant and only these will be given the price they demand.

K Rajan, president of the Distributors’ Association has pointed out the case of actress Jyotika, who now demands Rs 20 lakh per, though her films have flopped. Rajan feels no actress deserves more than Rs 5 lakh as wages.
The artistes, in retaliation are considering bringing out a list of producers who are bad paymasters.
>>>Ayyappa Prasad