Now, Tollywood joins battle against dubbed films

HYDERABAD: It's going to be a war against dubbed films once again in the state. Even as Telugu television artistes are agitating against the telecast of dubbed serials, now the Telugu film industry has also jumped into action, demanding a complete ban on dubbed films.
On April 28, producers of the Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce will meet to discuss the issue of dubbed films.Movie Artistes Association (MAA) president M Murali Mohan told TOI on Tuesday that in the next few days a meeting with producers and AP Film Chamber of Commerce (APFCC) would be held to discuss ways on imposing a ban on dubbed films.
"We are aware that the state government cannot impose a ban on the release of dubbed films as rules do not permit that. But the film industry can take initiative and impose a ban on dubbed films. Karnataka has shown the way in this regard," Murali Mohan said. During a meeting with agitating television artistes on Monday night on the premises of the film chamber, Murali Mohan had openly declared that they would leave no stone unturned in their war against dubbed films.
The chairman of producers sector of APFCC, Natti Kumar said that by and large all producers were against dubbed films. Because of the Tamil dubbed films, distributors are unwilling to buy small budget Telugu films. Natti Kumar said in the recent past nearly 200 small budget Telugu films could not be released as per schedule because of either lack of buyers or lack of theatres.
He said that distributors were willing to pay as much as Rs 28 crore for buying territorial rights of a Rajnikant-starrer film, Rs 12-15 cr for a film starring Vijay, Rs 18 crore for a Surya-starrer film. With so much money being pumped into for buying rights of dubbed films of Tamil heroes, straight Telugu films were getting affected, he said. In Karnataka, at the initiative of the film industry itself, some understanding has been reached to regulate dubbed films.
Of late, production of films in Telugu film industry has gone up and according to an estimate, at least 1,400 more theatres are needed in addition to 1,672 theatres that are available now.
Some sections of the industry are also of the view that non-Telugu artistes should not be encouraged as local talent is not getting due encouragement. If this happens, practically all the heroines and most of the villains will not get roles in Telugu films. "If they reside here, they will be considered local and not just because they have membership in associations," Natti Kumar said.
In the past, there were attempts to stall the release of dubbed films but it is only this time that some concrete measures are being planned.