Thursday, July 9, 2020

Prabhu Deva , Rowdy Baby and salary cut for Tamil film stars



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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