The Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday decided not to reopen cinemas till the government accepted its request for a relief package for the Malayalam film industry in view of the pandemic crisis.
The chamber convened a joint meeting of producers, exhibitors, and distributors after the government permitted reopening of cinemas with 50% occupancy from Tuesday. The exhibitors had said on Tuesday that they were ready to resume screening from next week after completing the preparatory works.
Tax, power charge
K. Vijayakumar, president of the chamber, said the trade bodies had urged the government to reduce the entertainment tax on tickets, which had been raised. The exhibitors sought relaxations in the fixed electricity charges incurred while remaining shut owing to the lockdown. The reopening of cinemas would not be possible without getting an assurance from the government on the relief package, he said.
The meeting pointed out that screening movies with a 50% occupancy would be a loss for the producers and exhibitors. The restrictions on the number of shows were also not practical. The producers and exhibitors said the big budget movies could not be released till the restrictions were lifted.
‘Master’ release
The decision by the chamber is likely to have an impact on the release of the Pongal release of the Tamil movie ‘Master’ on January 13. The representatives of the Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala and Cine Exhibitors Association had said on Tuesday that they were ready to release the film.
The producers reiterated that the exhibitors needed to clear the dues on movies released before the pandemic crisis. However, the exhibitors said they had cleared a major chunk of the arrears and the amount being cited by the producers was inflated.
