Members of the Suchitra Film Society held a silent protest against Suchitra Puravankara Film and Cultural Academy on Sunday for sidelining them and “effectively forcing their ouster”. The society has now decided to wage a legal fight against the academy to regain their rights in the trust managing the land allotted to the society in 1979.
Veteran film-maker Girish Kasaravalli and journalist Vijayamma were among the protesters, even as the local police claimed they had not permitted the protest and tried to disperse them.
The society, started in 1971, is in its golden jubilee year. In 1979, when the State Government allotted the society a CA site, it created a trust — Suchitra Film Academy — to manage the land. Since then, the society and the trust were on the same page with the elected president of the society being a permanent member of the trust, a statement from the society recounted.
However, things started to change in 2015 when a corporate sponsor came forward to rebuild the auditorium. Starting with the name of the trust being changed, the trust deed was redone making several key changes, including removing the society’s president as a permanent member of the trust, essentially cutting off the relationship, B. Suresha, the incumbent president of the society, said.
Since then, the trust has served notices to the society demanding a “contribution” of ₹50,000 every month to run their office on the premises and has hiked the rent for the auditorium to ₹10,000. “The society has an annual income of less than ₹2 lakh and cannot bear these expenses. We are essentially being forced out,” said Mr. Suresha.
Legal notices
In the 2020 annual general body meeting of the society, a resolution was passed demanding restoration of the permanent membership of the society’s president and the Director of the Kannada and Culture Department in the trust. The society members, who held the silent protest on Sunday, said they were forced to protest as the trustees refused to hold talks with them, sending legal notices instead.
Raghavendra Rao Savanur, chairman of academy, said they would soon respond to the allegations made by the society members. “These are members who are not changing with the times and are insistent on continuing with old ways,” he said.
