Producers question price ceiling
But producers in Mumbai have pooh-poohed CCCA’s strong posture vis-a-vis the prices of Hindi films and have said that it was an impractical decision which the distributors of the circuit would find hard to stick to and that they might even sidestep it in order to remain in the trade. “How will they do business if we do not supply them with films at the price they demand ?” they asked. Some producers put it mildly, saying that if the distributors found the price tags on their films too stiff, they should not take them up for distribution. "We have not forced them to buy films," they argue.

On the whole, the general opinion in the production sector in Mumbai is that the CCCA’s decision is “most impractical”. “It’s a free market. How can one section of the trade impose a ceiling on prices?" they ask. But Jain does not think that the CCCA has gone beyond the pale of law by putting a limit on the prices of films meant to be distributed under MG. “It is not illegal to put reasonable restrictions on prices of films when they are taken for distribution on MG. The term itself means that when one takes a film for distribution one gives the producer only a minimum guarantee that the film is expected to rake in at the box-office and not more than that. Knowing this, why shouldn’t the distributors fix prices according to the box-office potentials of the films ? In other industries, it is the manufacturer who gives a guarantee on the product. But it is the other way round in the film industry where the buyer has to give a guarantee as to how long a film will run. Does the buyer of a car give its manufacturer a guarantee that he will run it for any length of time ? So, when a distrbutor has to give the producer a guarantee, he should be free to put his own price tag on the film. It is not illegal,” Jain emphasises.

But producer Pahlaj Nihalani believes that it is illegal for a buyer to fix a price on a product. “It is contrary to the norms of free trade,” he believes. Producers, such as N.N. Sippy (who is also a distributor), Sultan Ahmed and Nihalani (also a distributor himself) are sure that if decisions of the CCCA members are carried through, it can be easily challeged at the court of the Monopoly and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) because the decision violates the norms of free trade and it is tantamount to imposing monopoly on the prices of films by a certain distribution circuit.

Jain, however, thinks otherwise. He says that if the principle of the producers fixing prices on films, which are to be distributed on MG, is challenged in the court of law, producers are sure to lose the case. “Even the MRTP court will not entertain their plea if they seek to challenge our decision,” he stresses.

The CCCA chief, however, agrees that the decision of the organisation is restricted to films taken for distribution on MG and not with regard to the outright purchases and films taken on advance payment. Even so, the CCCA’s decision has received flak even from some Mumbai distributors. Shyam Shroff, of Shringar Films, for example, is not sure whether the CCCA has taken the right decision. Some have slyly hinted that it might give rise to underhand dealings in the CCCI circuit if the CCCA, on paper, remained adamant on the decision.

“If that happens, the trade will suffer and it will harm the distributors of the region the most. In view of this, the CCCA should think twice before carrying through the decision. Earlier too, CCCA, at the behest of its president S.S. Jain, had introduced a ceiling on star assignments. We all know how the ceiling was broken by none other than the CCCI distributors themselves when they accepted films for distribution which featured stars who had more than the ceiling limit of six films on hand at a given time,” says Anil Nagrath, secretary of the Association of Motion Picture and Television Programme Producers (AMPTPP).