Theatres shut down as south Film industry protests Virtual Print Fee

In the film crazy states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Friday is nothing short of a festival. Scenes of audiences braving it out in long queues at the ticket counters, fans bathing larger than life cut-outs of

Tollywood

stars with milk amidst band baaja are a common sight. But the usual Friday hullabaloo was missing yesterday as theatres across the two Telugu speaking states were shut down. Why? In protest against the Virtual Print Fee (VPF) levied by Digital Service Providers (DSP) on regional films.

Virtual Print Fee is unfair: Producers
For the uninitiated, here is a little background about VPF. It is a commission paid to DSPs, who deliver content
directly to theatres via satellite. With the advent of digitisation, the process of exhibiting films underwent a huge transition as theatres went digital by equipment provided by two principal DSPs UFO and Qube.
“Five major studios in the United States got together and laid down a covenant that VPF would eventually be reduced across the board for

Hollywood

cinema to zero after a certain period of time. Now VPF is not charged for English films releasing in India, but the DSPs continue to charge the same from regional films. Therefore, the film chambers of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have gone on an indefinite strike from March 2,” explains Suresh Babu Daggubati, Chairman of the Joint Action Committee, who is heading this protest.
Apparently, the DSPs are also not screening film trailers which is mandatory but airing commercial advertisements instead. “As a result, the entire viewing experience is being spoilt for the audiences. The recently released Padmavat had advertisements for about 40 minutes. We want the DSPs to reduce these type of advertisements and honour the mandate of screening film trailers. We also want a concrete assurance from the DSPs as to when the VPF will become zero,” adds Suresh Babu.
We have already offered concessions and options but they want an absolute, overnight solution: DSPs
Senthil Kumar, co-founder of Qube Cinema, though begs to differ on the issue. “In Hollywood, there are five major studios represented by a single body. And we arrived at a mutual agreement. In India, there are many industries and they do not have one representative organisation. We will certainly welcome a similar agreement with a single binding body that is authorised to speak for all the industries,” he says.
Explaining why they cannot give a cut-off date by when the VPF would become zero, Senthil adds, “It’s not that simple. We have contractual agreements with around 4000 theatres which are binding on us. Also, the exhibitors want all benefits in VPF reduction to accrue to them along with the producers. We have already offered the JAC,some highly flexible concessions and options but they want an absolute, overnight solution. But the solution can be arrived at only over a period of time by engaging all the stakeholders. VPF does not have any significant impact on the revenues of a film. The South Film industry is estimated to incur a loss of approximately `25 crore per day due to the shutting down of theatres. The loss in two days is more than the VPF we collect for the whole year.”

We support the strike because VPF is affecting the producers who give us the content: Theatre ownersMeanwhile, the theatre owners who are already reeling under the impact of GST will be the worst hit by the strike. But they still feel it is a step in the right direction. “We support the strike because it is the producers who give us the content. If they are affected by VPF, they cannot produce good content and we will have no films to screen. In the short term, it will affect us badly, yes, we cannot get rentals for our theatres or pay our staff. The parking and canteen staff will also lose out on their livelihood. Cinematography Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav has promised to bring both the parties together for an amicable settlement and we are looking forward to it,” said Madhusudhan Rao, Manager of Sandhya 35mm theatre at RTC X roads.

So what if theatres are shut down? We have Netflix: Audience
By the way, what is the audiences’ take on the strike? Sandeep, an engineering graduate who came with his friends to catch the morning show after celebrating Holi, says “I don’t know what the issue is and frankly speaking, I’m not bothered either. I’ll just catch a movie on Netflix and probably head to the pub in the evening,” says Sandeep.
His attitude mirrors the growing perception that cinema is facing increasing competition from alternate forms of entertainment. Another film buff, Muthyala Rao, a marketing executive, however is disappointed. “I had planned on taking my wife and little daughter to the first show. My daughter had been pestering me to take her to the film Awe for some time. I guess she’ll have to wait longer now. My wife though has no issue as she has her daily soaps on television. She’ll only be angry if I don’t take her out for lunch as I had promised,” says Muthyala Rao, ruefully.