Another Kannada film industry bandh?

The fight initiated by small-time producers against big film stars in Sandalwood has turned out to be a full-fledged war in the industry. Actors have made it clear that they will not participate in further discussion till action is taken against producers who shouted slogans against their president Ambareesh in a meeting earlier last week. Functionaries of the Kannada Cine Artistes Association like Rockline Venkatesh and Doddanna have hardened their stand while Shivrajkumar and Jaggesh have left their decision to Ambareesh himself.The producers have now called for an industry bandh from June 18 which most people in the industry feel will fail.Producers, who are unable to release their films in theatres or sell them to television channels for telecast, are accusing film stars for the crisis.A series of allegations has been made against film stars including that their participation in television game shows being reason for poor box-office collection of films. They have been on a dharna for the last 12 days.
Kannada Cine Actors' Association president and state government minister HM Ambareesh chaired a meeting to solve the dispute earlier last week. But now the producers themselves are at the receiving end. Actors have made it clear that they will not attend further meetings until producers who shouted slogans against Ambareesh during the first meeting are suspended from Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC).Allegations against actors are dismissed by them.Shivarajkumar says caravans are used only on outdoor locations where there are no basic facilities. Apart from participation in television game shows, the small producers are demanding that stars stop using caravans during shooting, stop bringing personal assistants, stop demanding remuneration on daily basis and curtail the number of shooting days.
BANNER OF REVOLT
While the small-time-producers have called for a film industry strike from June 18, nobody seems to have taken them seriously. Ironically, the producers are protesting against film stars who are bigger producers themselves. The stars who are currently or were recently on game shows include Ravichandran, Shivarajkumar, Sudeep, Puneeth, Ramesh Aravind and Yogish.All these actors are producers too and have invested more in films than any of the producers raising the banner of revolt.
KFCC formed a committee with Jaggesh, Sa Ra Govindu, Pramila Joshai, Tara and Umesh Banakar to look into the issue. The committee brought in Ambareesh for mediation. After unruly scenes, Ambareesh left in a huff and those present say he made a snide comment that he knows how many of those protesting are real producers. An insider said, “This is turning out to be a farce. These producers have called for a strike from June 18. Its success will depend on how many films the protesting producers are currently producing. Since those producing films are not part of the protests nothing will come out of it.“ Actor-producer Jaggesh rued the failure of the committee's effort saying, “The film industry is being misled. I am sad that a honest effort has failed. We should respect our elders.“