Prabhu Deva is a Rowdy Baby and Tamil producers to sign new
films only if the Star takes a 50 % cut in their present income. I had decided
that I will not feature anything about Vanitha Vijayakumar after my last blog
on her romance and wedding during the Lock Down period. This time however I
have to mention her in a different context. Robert the choreographer was ex
hubby of Vanitha. So What? Robert is
angry because he saw Prabhu Deva go on stage to receive an award for the
Dhanush- Sai Pallavi film Maari 2. Not it was that Prabhu did not deserve the award but he
credited the entire song movements to choreographer Johny ( or is Jaani) who
worked as his assistant. “How can you give credit to a Telugu guy? Give that
chance to Tamil choreographers,” said an angry Robert. Rowdy Baby trailor
clocked 5 million views on YouTube and was a big hit. Before, I come back to the main point;
let me tell you the reason why Vanitha married Robert. According to her, she
played a guest role and a dance number
in an Odisha film that had Robert as hero. As Vanitha was lonely and Robert
filled the vacuum, she got married. So what took place recently is fourth
wedding and second Christian style one.
The Tamil filmdom industry decided that all the trade bodies
should have a Tamil identity and not be a South Indian body. It sparked off
with FEFSI Vijayan and his men getting hit by local stuntmen in Hyderabad over
a labour dispute. It led to strikeon
sets of Balu Mahendra who haired non Tamil workers. A splinter group of stunt union smashed
Manorama Theater where Directors were holding a meeting. Only the
cinematographers union and dance masters union said that they will remain pan-
South Indian. Later the strike fizzled out after a long gap (it was like the present
Lock Down for Kodambakkam then). The compromise evolved was that a certain
percentage of local talent will be hired by Chennai based Masters when shooting
non- Tamil films. The situation now is that all the three South States have
their own union and their own master’s and dancers. Robert is trying to rake up
an issue that today has no relevance. Prabhu Deva has grown from a mere
choreographer of South films to be a director of Star studded films.
I remember an incident on the sets of Vandanam, the
Priyadarshan- Mohanlal film shooting at a set in Vijaya Studios. A group of
drunk stunt men came and created a ruckus in filmy style. Lal and director
along with actors were packed off. I too left for Palmgrove Hotel where Lal and everybody were seen tensed. It seems that
Balaji ( actor- producer) and Bhagyaraj had a tiff during shooting the remake
of Mr India. It was over the publicity stills released by Balaji, a job that is
said to be the director’s right. The attack on Vandanam set was by FEFSI men
and the reason was that the hero was the son-in-law of Balaji.
All Star’s must take a 50% cut in wages, post COVID. The
question -is the cut from the declared amount shown in the IT returns or in the
diary of the actor and producer? When distributors raised a similar demand, a
decade back, Rajnikanth started his own company. Today, except for Rajinikanth
and Ajith, all saleable actors have their own production companies. If not,
their mangers or friends-relatives running production companies sign them up.
Even successful directors have floated companies. In Tamil filmdom, there is no
duly elected Producer’s or Actor’s body. Both are facing elections. Those who
have come forward and announced voluntary cuts are not those who matter. The
reason for the cut is that collections in theaters post COVID will be minimal.
In that case, why not offer a share of the gate collections and see which Star
bites the bait?
No Star will take a cut even after a film flops and finally
when the mobile stops ringing, that an offer to give a cut by the actor goes
around. By then, it is too late. Either they move to character roles or just
stay away. As K T Kunjumon , a producer with larger than life image said that
Shankar had a five film agreement with him but it was not kept. He added that
`Today, I am not in a position to produce a film with him either,’.
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