Kannada film production comes to a halt

The unending streak of box office failures and mounting losses accrued by the film industry has forced the Kannada film producers to suspend film production for one year.

The decision to stop film production was taken at a meeting of Karnataka Film Producers’ Association, attended by more than 150 film producers, at a private hotel in Bangalore.

“Though the on-going shooting of films will be completed, there will be no mahurath of new films for one year”, Association President Sandesh Nagaraj told reporters.

Out of the 50 Kannada films that were produced during this calendar year, as many as 49 of them had failed. “My Autograph is the only hit film of the year. All the rest of them had failed”, Nagaraj rued.

He said the Kannada film producers had been forced to take the extreme step of stopping production in view of the heavy cost of production, increases in star remunerations, harassment from cine workers’ unions and exorbitant rentals charged by the theatres. “The producers had incurred a total loss of around Rs 65 crore since January this year”, Nagaraj said.

“Exhibitors refuse to screen Kannada films citing poor collections. In addition, the rentals and service tax rates are also exorbitant”, he added.

Vice President of the Karnataka Film Producers’ Association K Manju laid the blame for the losses at the doorstep of piracy menace that had hit the film industry. “The Government should enforce the Goonda Act and crack down on piracy with an iron hand”, he said.

For several years now, Kannada films have been facing a tough competition from non-Kannada movies. Though the Kannada film industry sought a ban on release of non-Kannada films in theatres across Karnataka, the authorities intervened to formulate guidelines for non-Kannada films.

As per the guidelines, non-Kannada films should not be screened in more than ten theatres across the state. But, film producers rue that some Telugu and Tamil movies blatantly violate this rule. Sandesh Nagaraj cited the example of Telugu film Stalin that was released recently in 41 theatres.