The Hindu : Film industry to make joint plea to channel

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 26, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Film industry to make joint plea to channel

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, FEB. 25. The conciliatory efforts initiated by the Malayalam Cine Technicians Association (MACTA) for resolving the crisis in the film industry have met with some success.

The crisis began with the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) deciding to participate in an award nite and stage show being organised by a private television channel in Kochi on March 7. The Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce (which represents producers, exhibitors and distributors) accused AMMA of retracting from a pact signed some time back, which had provisions against its members appearing in stage and television shows. All the three parties involved in the row, AMMA, MACTA and the Chamber, have now agreed to appeal to the channel to postpone the programme.

At the end of separate discussions with AMMA and the Chamber here on Wednesday, the MACTA chairman, K.G. George, and the secretary, Sibi Malayil, said the three organisations would make a joint appeal to the channel to postpone the March 7 programme. The decision to make the joint appeal came in the wake of the reluctance of AMMA office-bearers to follow such a course on its own. According to the AMMA president, Innocent, if AMMA alone asked for the postponement of the programme, it would amount to breaking the conditions of the agreement it had entered into with the channel. It would cost AMMA dearly in terms of compensation, he added.

According to the Chamber president, Siyad Kokker, his organisation was ready to be a party to the joint appeal for the sake of breaking the deadlock. However, getting the date changed alone would not solve the problem. The Chamber was not ready for any compromise on discipline. If the channel agreed to postpone the programme, the new date could be fixed only after getting the approval of the Chamber, Mr. Kokker said.

Postponing the programme was one of the major conditions of the Chamber for holding talks with the artistes. While the Chamber, made up of the Kerala Film Producers Association, Kerala Film Exhibitors Association, Kerala Cine Exhibitors Federation and the Kerala Film Distributors Association, had accused AMMA of breaking every condition in the agreement made last year, AMMA had taken the stand that the proceeds of the programme were intended for a fund to support ailing artistes. The Chamber's contention was that the telecast of such stage shows would draw away the depleting audience from cinema halls.

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