Will Bharathiraaja and his Boys bring relief to producers ?

 

The OTT effect has hit Tamil Nadu Theaters in a new way. They are now hit by an old issue that remained unsolved. The newly formed Producers body headed by Bharathiraaja has taken up  the issue of paying Visual Print Fee (VPF) by producers to service providers Qube and UFO MovieZ to screen films in theaters. They have asked for a share in the booking fee collected by online portals for tickets and from the advertisements that come with the digital prints. Coming on the heels of the news that Centre will allow theaters to open from October 1^st, Tamil Nadu theaters are in for a long fight. As OTT  emerged as an alternative, theaters are in a tight corner.

Service providers say that the fees charged is lowest in the World. The producers in Tamil Nadu say that the service providers have recovered their investments on eqipments over a span of ten years and continuing VPF makes no sense. Hollywood Studios movies that are not made in India do not pay any VPF and those that it produces in India are only paying this fee. The service providers have not drawn any agreement with theaters about spending on upgrading equipments in India. In Hollywood the studios paid for upgrading and so the equipment cost was paid up in 5 years. Hollywood also paid a small percentage for new systems in place.

Digital service providers say that it has to pay 30% import duty for equipments. It means more time to recover investment. As for South India,, it had reduced 18-20% fees after last strike. The cost of mastering, including last minute jobs, the cost of delivery and the cost of key management are all charged separately   elsewhere globally but not in India and this charges alone if borne by the producer would equal the VPF is the argument. After the South Filmdom strike, Qube agreed to reduce by 50% the fees for a 6 mth time and reverted back to 18-20% drop. Digital providers also agreed to follow the E Cinema pattern of charging per show.

In Hollywood, Cinedigm and DCIP VPF contracts are between studios that have a line of releases and AMC, Regal and Cinemark, the three largest exhibitors in the US. In India, there is no contract with the multiplex chains and there is not many studios that has a steady supply of movies. It is mostly one time producers and no deal can be arrived at. Only Scrabble Entertainment and Qube Cinema signed VPF contracts with the Hollywood Studios.

Theaters say that it is a matter between the Qube -UFO MovieZ  and producers .and they have no role to play. It means that the producers will have to sort it out with them. Now what remains is that the sharing of advt revenue and online ticket booking charges. If Qube / UFO refuses to scrap VPF  charges or reduce it, producers will have to move to PXD from the Prasad Group, KSS, TSR ProVA, One Source Media, Aerox and K Cinemas which are some of the other digital cinema integrators currently operating in India. However, only Scrabble Entertainment and Qube Cinema signed VPF contracts with the Hollywood Studios.

The new producers body is to ask Qube and UFO to sign a deal with them and treat them as they treat a Hollywood studio. Their members will keep a steady supply of movies. The VPF should be scrapped. If not the theaters should pick the bill. Multiplexes might not agree to join and if it means a further lockdown. The last strike was withdrawn after some exhibitors filed a complaint against the striking producers with the Competition Commission of India (CCI). After a preliminary examination, the CCI decided that the complaint indeed had merits and called for a full examination of the matter. This is an ongoing matter. Though the move is expected to bring relief to producers, small theaters might have to close down or sell out to multiplexes. The VPF has been a poll plank for groups contesting the Film Producer Council polls but nothing has come out of it. The new body is only joining of active producers and they will not issue any directive. Even if issues, CCI can at best say it does not hold good and it is for Tamil Film Producers Council, the officially body that has to take a call. The official body is at present filled with majority of those who are in sleep mode.

CCI has a complaint by Ronnie Screwala against multiplex chains that he says are colluding with Qube and UFO in VPF issue. He has Disney/Fox Star, Viacom 18, Jio Studios, T-Series, Zee Studios and , distributor Anil Thadani, producer Siddharth Roy Kapur (President of the Producers Guild Of India) and producer Mukesh Bhatt  joining his existing complaint with CCI. Ronnie has also found support from the Producers Guild of India & Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association.

First STAR from South to hit OTT- all info

 

Called the Natural Star, Nani’s film V is the first STAR film that was meant for theaters , but hits the OTT platform from the South. . The Nani- director Mohana Krishna combo had delivered a blockbuster Gentleeman and there were high expectations as it was Nani’s 25^th film and that too he plays the baddie. Mohana Krishna reveals why the film was shot in 5 States and Thailand. Why the title V ?  Nivetha Thomas on her role in V.

What does V stand for ?

"The film deals with a character named Vishnu. Usually, psychopaths leave a signature, right? I wanted some sort of a signature for the psychopath killer that would be a short stroke. The idea came to me much after completing the film," Indraganti said

On the need for many locations ?

Mohana Krishna shared that, "The movie was shot in 5 states and 1 international location — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra- and in Thailand. Our intent was to create a consistent visual experience and color palette for our viewers - generally you will see inconsistencies in the color palette. From night to day shots we wanted the entire grid to be consistent. We therefore took a lot of care in the costume designing, in production design, the kind of clothes we want to avoid, the kind of colors we want to avoid, and it had to match with completely different locations. Goa is completely warm, and Bombay is both humid and warm, and Thailand is tropical while Manali which is extremely cold – across these many locations and climates, we wanted to create a visually seamless experience for our viewers.

He further added that, "We had to match all these looks and make it a consistent grid which was a creative challenge. But it also lent the story a certain skin and tone which it demanded. The story unravels over a long period of time. I wanted people to feel that they have read a novel and experienced these locations and experiences vividly. Shooting across these widely different locations helped us do that."

About the story aand Nivetha on her role

The movie is a romantic thriller where a cop falls in love with a crime writer and everything is perfect until a killer challenges the cop with a puzzle to solve. In the movie, Nivetha plays the role of a crime novelist, a part the actor found immensely "relatable".

"When I was reading the brief of the character, I thought she was extremely relatable. I knew people exactly like her but may be not as weird. I could see certain traits in her which I have too but people don't know."

"She is unapologetically herself. She's a self-made woman with a goal to become a crime novelist. Her method, her investigation is quite twisted. It was a wholesome role," she added.

Aditi Rao Hydari, Jagapathi Babu, Vennela Kishore, Nassar among others have played pivotal roles in V.

V will be streaming on Amazon Prime Video from September 5.

 

Suriya puts pillayar suzhi for biggies release on OTT

 

Suriya  puts  the pillayar suzhi (Ganesha Circle) for biggies of Tamil Cinema to take the OTT route by announcing that Soorarai Pottru (SP) will release on October 30 in the Amazon Prime Video platform. On August 19^th, we reported the story headlined – Telugu’s Natural Star Nani opens the OTT doors for South Filmdom. It has come true. A background information about pillayar suzhi - This came to symbolize Ganesha, the scribe who helped Vyasa write down the Mahabharata. Since then the Pillayar Suzhi is supposed to make things auspicious and bring good luck.

The theater owners as expected are angry. Tirupur Subramanian of the exhibitor’s body says that unless they have at least 2 biggies in hand to bring crowds while reopening it is difficult to bring in people after reopening. With SP gone, now Vijay’s Master remains. He says that as Suriya is free to decide on which platform to decide, exhibitors too are free to choose their films. He laughs at the stance that Suriya took the decision as a producer. He asks whether Suriya paid Rs 30 cr as renumeration to anybody as producer. All the expenses were met by the co-producer a Mumbai company. He says that Suriya says that he has taken a cut in earnings from the usual figure he gets from a film but for exhibitors it is more losses. He debunks the claim that Suriya has got permission to shoot for 2 films.

Suriya has announced a Rs 5 cr amount to be used for Covid warriors and this would blunt the opposition to the OTT move.  SP price for a post theatrical release in OTT was fixed. After the  Nani V film deal, a similar deal was inked almost a month ago with SP producers. The deal is Rs 60 cr for premiere release in all languages and after 60 days it can be released in theaters by the producers. SP’s  satellite rights was already sold to Star – Vijay for Rs 20 cr and Hindi dubbing for Rs 12 cr.  Overseas rights was committed for Rs 12 cr and this might drop drastically to Rs 3 cr. The opening response of TENET in theaters in USA and SE Asia has been too poor. According to trade the SP producers have made a Rs 25cr profit before release.