No Interval For Tamil Film Industry Strike

Producers, technicians wait for Karunanidhi to play peacemaker

The on-going strike in the Tamil film industry, which has already lasted for more than a fortnight, may not be resolved before August 1.

Both sides believe that only Chief Minister K Karunanidhis personal intervention can resolve the issue. But the DMK supremo is pre-occupied with his partys conference at Salem and is not expected to return to Chennai before August 1.

Film producers had planned to stop work from August 1 to protest against the spiralling cost of film production. The industry is reeling under a spate of flops, with only 10 per cent of all Tamil films made this calendar year recovering their cost of production.

However, the Film Employees Federation of South India (Fefsi) pre-empted the move by going on strike two weeks earlier.

The producers demand for an immediate 40 per cent cut in costs has been slightly modified after nearly 15 rounds of negotiations with Fefsi, leading city-based producer G Venkateswaran told Business Standard.

The cut in costs will now be effected by artists and the government, instead of film technicians because we cannot go to rock bottom, said Venkateswaran. While artists have not yet agreed to take a 20 per cent pay cut, they will eventually come around, said another source.

The producers have also asked the state government to halve the current 40 per cent entertainment tax. The industrys earlier discussions with the minister concerned did not yield any results, since the issue of a reduction in entertainment tax pertains to revenue collection and is hence beyond his purview, according to an industry source.

Although the entertainment tax is paid by the distributors, it is built into the overall cost of the film and hence pushes up the break-even point for all films.

Meanwhile, the long drawn-out strike has dealt its first blow to Fefsi. Film directors have opted out of the federation and will now function under the banner of the South India Film Directors Association. Industry sources believe that cinematographers will soon follow suit.

The directors decision to opt out of Fefsi is not surprising, since the immediate provocation for the strike was a spat involving film director Balu Mahendra and his film crew. Going against the unwritten code of filmdom, the technical crew announced pack-up before the director could do so.