Cracks seem to have appeared over the strike call by the film bodies in Malayalam cinema industry from June 1 onwards to press its demands, including a cut in the soaring pay packet of actors and removal of double taxation on movie tickets by the State government.
A social media post by Antony Perumbavoor, film producer, questioning the strike announcement by G. Sureshkumar, producer and vice-president of the Kerala Film Producers’ Association (KFPA), has exposed the cracks in the multi-crore industry over the proposed strike.
Mr. Perumbavoor, producer of movies, including Lucifer and Neru and the forthcoming L2:Empuraan under the banner of Aashirvad Cinemas, said that the strike would affect the livelihood of thousands.
He alleged that the decision to go on strike from June 1 lacked consensus among the members of the KFPA. Mr. Sureshkumar had rejected the allegations while pointing out that the strike call was taken unanimously by the trade bodies in the Malayalalm film industry.
He alleged that the box-office claims of several movies having entered the ‘₹100-crore’ club were inflated. He had also stated that producers used to make such claims after coming under pressure from the lead stars.
Mr. Perumbavoor rejected it while pointing out that it was now a common practice across various film industries to promote the multi-crore box-office returns. He claimed that the record collections were based on the gross returns and not the individual share earned by the producer.
Actors Prithviraj, Unni Mukundan, Aju Varghese, Tovino Thomas came in support of Mr. Perumbavoor by sharing his social media post. B. Rakesh, secretary of KFPA, and Siyad Kokker, its vice-president were among those who rallied behind Mr. Sureshkumar.
The representatives of various film bodies are planning to meet Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan before June 1 to apprise him about the crisis and to place the request to end the double taxation system on movie tickets, which included the Goods and Services Tax and entertainment tax levied by the local bodies.
Published – February 14, 2025 06:58 pm IST
