Kerala   

Wind up off-screen action, bring out quality films

The split in MACTA is unfortunate. Contentious issues in the organisation should have been ironed out earlier. Its members are blessed with various artistic talents. However, many seem to lack civility. The splinter group has already set up an ad hoc committee to formulate a separate organisation. Though the division was acrimonious, it is positively a blessing in disguise. Now, each group will strive hard to bring out better films. Thus, hopefully, the quality of production will improve.

N. Ramchandran

Vakkom

Cinema is becoming alien to the common man. Kerala too is no exception. People do not bother to visit cinemas since science has brought movies to their living rooms. Instances like the rift in MACTA will further distance the viewer. Cinema thrives on quality viewers and if they stay away, the medium will struggle to survive. When individuals try to grow bigger than an organisation, problems develop and the institution crumbles. This was the case with MACTA. For the sake of good cinema, it is advised that problems be sorted out at the earliest.

Ravi Kumar N.

Thiruvananthapuram

Malayalam film industry is plagued by mounting production costs, poor working conditions, dwindling viewer patronage and video piracy. The industry can hardly afford the ongoing egoistic conflicts. Unity is the need of the hour. The industry leaders should desist from compounding the crisis by indulging in mudslinging. The disagreements appear to be personality-driven and not issue-based. Film-making is a team effort, and like the different spokes in the wheel, the creative, production and technical segments of the film industry complement one another. . Therefore, the warring factions should bury the hatchet in the larger interests of the industry and think of ways to strengthen the medium as the livelihood of thousands of artistes, technicians and workers of cinema halls are at stake. The key to the survival of the industry lies in attracting the youth to the movie halls by making the medium more contemporary by application of the latest technology. This requires infusion of funds which has been a problem area for Malayalam films. A divided house can hardly inspire confidence those willing to invest. Cinema cannot survive without a self-sustaining screening infrastructure. Stand-alone movie halls are on longer viable. The official policy of discouraging retail outlets and malls has prevented multiplexes from coming up in the state. There is nothing wrong in adopting a pragmatic approach and making exceptions especially when an industry is struggling for survival.

V.N. Mukundarajan

Thiruvananthapuram

The split in MACTA resulted from a clash of personalities. If MACTA is strictly a technicians’ union, how can writers, singers, dubbing artistes etc be its members? They are creative artistes, and not technicians in the strict sense. What do real technicians like cameramen, editors, sound engineers and lab technicians have to say about the present situation? Strangely, lab technicians and graphic artists, who form a very important technical group, do not find a place in the nineteen associations! Even if a new federation is formed, it will be run on the same lines as MACTA Federation and will split up at the slightest pretext. A technician’s association should have only technicians in it. Cinema is ultimately made by them frame by frame, right from day one of the shoot to the release date.

Krishnanunni

Thiruvananthapuram

People hope that the crisis in the MACTA will blow over and a bail-out package will emerge soon restoring harmony. It is a pity that what started ostensibly on a silly matter has now snowballed into a contentious issue. Our knowledge of the issue is based on newspaper reports. It is learnt from the reports that those at the helm of the federation, though gifted with artistic acumen, woefully lack the basic sense of proportion and the skill required to solve disputes in an amicable way. The ongoing war of nerves in the MACTA, the umbrella organisation of as many as 19 associations of film technicians with a combined membership of 5200 formed to protect the rights, career interests and welfare of the members, will only jeopardize its aims and objectives. So the sooner it is resolved, the better for the MACTA. It will be in the fitness of things if AMMA and MACTA, the two apex bodies of film artistes and technicians desist from mud-slinging and bickering. If they can work together to produce block-busters and classical masterpieces, why cannot they sit together and sort out problems?

A.N. Balan

Thiruvananthapuram

Malayalam cinema has been in the grip of a crisis for quite some time now — both on the commercial as well as aesthetic fronts. From the commercial point of view the industry has not been able to thwart the challenge posed by video piracy and television. Dwindling audience in theatres resulted, and this has been eating into the profits. Aesthetically, Malayalam cinema faces a severe talent deficit, which too is responsible for keeping audience away from theatres. The lack of quality in Malayalam cinema is obvious when juxtaposed with the creative brilliance witnessed in contemporary Tamil cinema. Mainstream filmmakers in Malayalam have failed to exhibit high degrees of imagination, creativity and ingenuity has left the audience disenchanted with Malayalam cinema. These are not great times for the industry and so, the spiteful exchanges in MACTA could have been avoided.

Prasand Thampy

By e-mail

Finally schismatic unionism reaches the Malayalam Cine Technicians Association (MACTA) also. Kerala has carved for itself a niche for infamous trade union rivalries. The unsavoury developments in MACTA are, perhaps, the manifestation of this virulent tendency. The surest casualty of this canker is the industry itself. Cinema is a creative craft. It is wise to leave cinema for cinema’s sake.

Stardom is, to use a cliché, a necessary evil. There is no need to be envious about the glitterati of the movie world. Malayalam cinema has scaled new heights of fame. It keeps winning accolades at the international level.

The current developments are bound to affect its healthy growth.

Squabbles of trade unionism must not be allowed to guillotine the finesse and nuances of successful movie making.

However, the breakaway group has formed its own association comprising a number of federations. The Association of Malayalam Movies Artistes (AMMA) also extended its patronage to it.

The spat between the unions is bound to create wide-ranging implications in the realm of movie making. It will adversely affect the industry and of course, the connoisseurs of good cinema.

N. Sadasivan Pillai

By e-mail

On 16th June, 2008, members of the split away group joined to form a new association and the split in the Malayalam Cine Technicians’ Association (MACTA) Federation is now official. Let it go like that because if there is a problem, the members should have the freedom to face it. Of the 59 Malayalam films released last year, only four or five got their money back from the box office and more than 50 were flops. This shows the declining standards of the film industry in the State. The ego, complex and the ‘superstarism’ of actors affect the film industry much. The Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), MACTA Federation and other associations and unions in the film field are working for and on behalf of the people associated with cinema and there should not be any politics in between. If politics comes, then split is the one and only way.

After the floating of the new union, the mud-slinging is at its high, which affects both the film industry and the public. The result will be that non-Malayalam films will rule the State. I suggest ending the rivalry among the various groups in Malayalam cinema and thus helping the industry to survive.

S.N. Thiruvazhiode

Poonithura

Any organisation which has many people with different interests should have a clear bye law, which specifically states how the team must function under one head to attain the common interest. The leader must be a person who can oscillate on all frequencies, but should maintain a distinct unadulterated frequency of his or her own so that alignment is avoided. This is essential for independently assessing the issues coming up before the organisation.

From media reports, it is very clear that MACTA Federation did not function for a common programme, but for the dictatorial ways of the decision making unit. Hence the members were unhappy. When an occasion came, the bubbles burst and there is no surprise in it. Organisations like this must design a management capsule and everyone must adhere to it, if the organisation is to function for the common interest. This was absent in MACTA Federation, hence it is split now. At least, the new group must prepare a management capsule having a common interest and another portion for special interest of individual segments in the unit so that no one will feel he or she is discriminated against.

P.M.G.Pillai

Annar

MACTA Federation is already split and the new group has authorised the office-bearers to form a committee to find solutions for the issues. Actors, producers, directors, cameramen, dubbing artistes, singers and technicians connected with the film field should sit together to discuss the issues and should solve them amicably. An amicable solution is possible only when the actors rise above their ego and complex. Otherwise, the fight will continue and the fox between the goats will get the blood. Tamil and Hindi films are ruling the theatres of Kerala nowadays, and Malayalam cinemas get only 10 per cent success competing with other language films. Due to reality shows, even the serials are not in a position to succeed on television. The adage, ‘United we stand, divided we fall’ is applicable to Malayalam film industry also. MACTA, AMMA and other unions are for Malayalam cinema industry. Let other language cinemas run in our theatres, but majority should be Malayalam films.

P. Sankaranarayanan

Petta

The inherent weakness of MACTA was evident when functionaries started deriding popular artistes and cultural leaders who are held in high esteem by cinema lovers. Any organisation, which washes its linen rather elaborately in public deserves only contempt. The survival of film industry depends on the quality of films, which is a combined effort of writers, lyricists, actors, directors and producers. MACTA has scope only if all the interested parties are brought under one umbrella and their problems are understood and addressed, effectively. Let sanity prevail. Let the focus be on production of good films.

K.P. Karunakaran Nair

Thiruvananthapuram

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