The Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK) has announced measures to save cinema halls in the state following reports of a crisis facing Malayalam cinema and theatres due to consecutive flops.
One of the measures includes refraining from screening substandard films, and producers whose films are declined approval will be required to pay screening fees to theatre owners if they want to exhibit their films in cinemas.
These new rules look so absurd and senseless. How can a team decide if a film is of par standard or sub-standard? Does that mean only films made with a high budget will be considered quality films?
So according to their ‘standards,’ Kantara would not qualify as a quality film. Even the Malayalam blockbuster, Premam, was made on a low budget. But according to new rules, will it be considered a substandard film? Mohan Lal’s Marakkar, despite its huge budget, was a disaster because it was a substandard film in terms of content.
No team or committee can decide the quality of any film. It’s the audience that decides if a film is a quality film or a substandard one. Every film deserves a chance to have a normal release in theater, and then the audience will judge its quality. These new measures seem to have been brought in by some people who don’t know how the film industry and exhibition sector work.
The Kerala film industry has reportedly lost around Rs 200 crore in the past four months, with only one out of 75 films released during that period emerging successful at the box office.
