Chennai, May 10 (IANS) Members of the Tamil film industry sat on a day-long fast on Sunday against digital cinema service providers for “fleecing” producers with exorbitant rates for screening movies.
Many trade bodies associated with the Tamil film fraternity, including the South Indian Film Artistes Association (SIFAA), the Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council (TFPC) and Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) participated in the fast.
“These companies charge exorbitant rate for screening movies digitally. They also fail to share revenue they generate out of advertisements screened during our movies. The ad space in between our films is sold for crores,” TFPC president Kalaipuli S. Thanu told reporters here.
“If these digital companies don’t agree to our terms on or before May 29, we’ve decided not to release films from June 12,” he said.
Thanu said the entire industry has urged the Tamil Nadu government to look into its woes and ensure that it takes over the business of digital projection from these private companies.