Film bandh in Kerala

The Malayalam film industry is in for a major crisis as producers and artistes in Kerala are heading for a collision.

Mohanlal Cinema theatres closed and all film shooting and post production works across the state came to a standstill on Thursday as producers, distributors and exhibitors downed shutters protesting the huge fees that actors charge.

The 'film bandh' is also in protest against the decision of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) to participate in the star night award programme by the Asianet television channel scheduled for March 7.

Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce officials insist that actors and actresses should not participate in television programmes. "By participating in the star nights on television, film stars are violating the agreement with the chamber. The film industry in Kerala is in deep crisis because of the huge production costs especially caused by the actors," KFCC president Siyad Kokker told rediff.com.

He said artistes under the banner of AMMA have violated the agreement with KFCC according to which artistes would not take part in any star nights telecast by major channels.

"Our agreement was part of a settlement signed by film artistes and producers last year to bring down production costs in the Malayalam film industry. But the artistes have thrown it to the winds. And producers are suffering badly these days," Kokker added.

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According to Kokker, who has produced some of the best-known Malayalam films, the escalating cost of production in the film industry is because artiste remuneration now amounts to 40 to 60 per cent of the entire production costs.

KFCC has been urging the artistes to bring down their costs by 30 per cent. The chamber has also mooted an idea to fix a ceiling on the remuneration to be paid to the film artistes, including superstars like Mammootty and Mohanlal. KFCC, the apex body of the associations of film producers, distributors and exhibitors in the state, has also threatened to stop all the shooting and post-production related work indefinitely from March 8.

Artistes led by superstar Mohanlal have challenged the chamber threats. Mohanlal said KFCC's arguments are undemocratic as it forbids film artistes to work in television programmes. The superstar also said that if the producers stop film works in the state, artistes would plan to set up a parallel body of producers, exhibitors and distributors.

AMMA president and leading actor Innocent said the artistes would not bow under the threats from producers: "Only a handful of producers are creating unnecessary problems in the Malayalam film industry. We are trying to sort it out."