The four South Indian film industries – Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu – will go on strike to protest against the Virtual Print Fee (VPF) levied by the Digital Service Providers (DSP). Earlier it was reported that no new regional films will release from March 1 onwards, but the Hindi and English films will release as per schedule.
Though the strike is on, Kannada and Malayalam films that have been cleared by censor board will release in the two states, it’s a complete shutdown in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, while in Tamil Nadu, Dharavi has released for now and all the cinema theatres will continue to operate.
Malayalam movies Ira, Sukhamano Daveede and Khaleefawill release this week, so will Kannada movies 3000 and Preethiya Raayabhari.
Producer v/s DSP , No new South Indian releases from Today. It is complete shutdown in #Andhra & #Telangana with theatres closing down from March 2, while in #TN theatres will function. #Karnataka & #Kerala No shutdown, films censored can release! pic.twitter.com/wouhGo5dxt
— Sreedhar Pillai (@sri50) March 1, 2018
Dharavi, directed by Pavithran, is open for bookings in theatres across Tamil Nadu. “The film released on February 28 probably that’s why it is running in the theatres,” explained trade expert Sreedhar Pillai.
Senthil Kumar co-founder of Qube Cinema, the current DSP in South India, told Silverscreen that there is a joint action committee meeting in Hyderabad today. So far talks between the producers and DSPs have failed to break the impasse.
Read: All You Need To Know About The Squabble Between Producers & DSPs
