The distributors of Enthiran who were relieved after KFCC allowed the release of the film in 35 theatres around the state are a worried lot now.
The Executive committee of the KFCC which met on Wednesday evening decided to recall this decision and decided to stick to the earlier policy of restricting the release of non-Kannada films to only 25 theatres.
This is a severe set back for the Enthiran distributors. Basanth Kumar Patil, President of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce said that there is nothing wrong in revising a decision taken earlier as larger interests of the Kannada film industry was considered in Wednesday’s meeting.
“Now, Enthiran and its two versions can be released only in twenty five theatres. If anybody violates this then he may to face consequences,” said Basanth Kumar Patil. He also opposed the increase of the ticket fare of the film stating that this would mean exploiting the unsuspecting viewers and a large number of Rajnikanth fans.
Another major problem is that the state of Karnataka has now ordered the closure of theatres on Thursday and Friday which means that the lakhs of fans will be denied the opportunity to see the movie on the day of its release. This would certainly have a direct impact on the revenue as the distributors of the film have paid a bomb to secure the rights.
Sources said that their investment would be around Rs. 8.60 crores for the project. One major problem arising out of the revised decisions is that a lot of confusions will be created now if the dictum of film chamber has to be implemented. Already advance booking tickets have been issued for three to four days in many theatres.
One major problem is that a lot of big theatres issued tickets two to three days ago and they will face problems since the film will not be screened on the 1st of October as per the orders of the state government. What will happen to the ticket holders of October 1? Will they return the ticket fare or allow them to see the film on some other day? Would the hardcore Rajini fans who booked the tickets agree to their decision? These are the questions that has to be answered by the theatre owners who jumped the gun and issued the tickets without waiting for the decision of the film chamber.
Since the film’s release is now restricted to only 25 theatres, how will the theatres which are not screening the film deal with this. But the major problem is that the police have been heavily deployed for controlling the law and order problems from Thursday, and they will not be made available for service in the theatres.