Daijiworld Media Network - Chennai
Chennai, Aug 28: The Tamil Film Producers Council and the Tamil Film Active Producers Association on Friday announced that they have indefinitely postponed their proposed strike from September 1 following an assurance from Tamil Nadu Minister for Information and Publicity Rajmohan.
In a joint statement, the producer bodies said the minister had assured them that their concerns would be brought to the attention of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and that tripartite talks under the Chief Minister’s guidance would be facilitated to find a permanent solution.
The producers said they met Rajmohan on August 26 and explained the problems facing the Tamil film industry. They also submitted their demands to the minister in the form of a petition.
After examining their representation, the minister asked the Tamil Nadu Film Distributors Federation and the Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association to continue following the existing process for film releases.
The minister also assured the producers that the Tamil Nadu government would initiate talks involving the Film Distributors Federation, Theatre Owners Association and Tamil film producers’ associations after the ongoing Assembly session, with the aim of finding a lasting solution.
The producers’ associations had on August 22 announced that no new Tamil films would be released from September 1. They had also said that all ongoing film shooting and post-production activities would be halted from the same date.
The decision followed what the producers described as a unilateral move by the Theatre Owners Association and Film Distributors Federation regarding the release window of new films on OTT platforms.
The two bodies had stated that theatres would screen only those films whose producers provided an undertaking that their movies would be released on OTT platforms only after eight weeks of their theatrical release.
In their August 22 joint statement, the producers said the distributors and theatre owners had decided on their own, without consultations with other stakeholders, to permit theatrical screenings only for films whose producers submitted letters agreeing to the eight-week OTT window.
The producers also pointed out that no such practice was followed in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka or Kerala and alleged that the move was being introduced specifically in Tamil Nadu.
They had strongly opposed the decision and called for it to be withdrawn.
With the latest assurance from the state government, the producer associations have now decided to defer the proposed strike indefinitely.