Christmas is usually a money making time for Malayalam movie industry as most of the releases that come out this time of the year work well at the box office, even if they are clashing with each other. Thanks to the holidays, the audiences are spoilt for choice when it comes to which movie to watch, and the producers love to put them in that kind of dilemma. However, such sort of thing is not going to happen this year, thanks to the ongoing fracas between the Malayalam Film Producers Council and Distributors Association and the Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation (KFEF).
The existence of so many many powerful organisations and lobbies have always been a bane for Malayalam movie industry, and once again the curse strikes Mollywood just when it needed revenue the most. Currently the bone of contention is over the percentage of box office collections that the exhibitors are paying the producers. This stalemate has resulted into various organisations going on strike, thus affecting the releases of completed projects as well as the stopping of the work of new movies.
Upcoming movies that are getting affected are Mohanlal's family entertainer Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol, Prithviraj's horror thriller Ezra, Dulquer Salmaan-starrer Jomonte Suvisheshangal, Jayasurya's madcap entertainer Fukri and others. All these movies are eagerly expected by the fans, so they will totally disappointed with this news. In fact, Jomonte Suvisheshangal was supposed to release on December 16. As of now, all the releases are said to be posponed indefinitely.
As per the article written by senior South journalist and trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai in FirstPost, "The feud is basically over the percentage of box-office collections. The single screens in Kerala were paying 60 percent of the total net to distributors and producers in the first week of a new film. KFEF chief Basheer, who has control over a large number of screens in the Malabar area — which accounts for 45 percent of the total box-office collections in Kerala — wants parity with multiplexes, which get 50 percent of the total net in the first week."
As a Malayalam movie lover, it's my humble request to all those powerful overlords to stop taking Malayalam fans like us for granted with your petty ego clashes, and ensure smooth releases of the movie. After all, it's a loss-loss equation for everyone involved!
