TFCC opposes Tamil dubbed films on festival days

The Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) has reportedly resolved to avoid Tamil dubbed films for big festivals like Sankranthi and Dussera, which is bound to have a big impact on producers and distributors who have bought Surya’s ‘Gang’ and Vikram’s ‘Sketch’ to give more space to Telugu films in 2018.

“It is a bold decision and will go a long way in safeguarding Telugu films,” said producer Vallabhaneni Ashok.

For quite some, Telugu producers and distributors have been requesting the apex body to rein in Tamil dubbed movies since they were eating into their revenues. “Now the Tamil dubbed movies are bought anywhere between Rs 5 to 80 crore. With producers unleashing publicity blitz to recover their huge investments and occupying a majority of the 1800-odd theatres in Telangana State and Andhra Pradesh.

Apart from giving shrinking space for the straight Telugu films during festival season, which is crucial for the survival of Telugu films, the Tamil stars are surely eating into the revenues of Telugu stars. So, it’s the right time to stem their loot,” rues producer Radha Rajeswari, who is also a member of Censor Board.

No doubt, Tamil stars like Rajnikanth, Surya, Karthi, Dhanush and Vijay Antony have expanded their fan base in the two Telugu states and their films are sold like hot cakes.

“We agree that Telugu audience love to watch Tamil stars because they offer a variety. But not at the cost of small and medium budget Telugu films. Two major festivals for Telugu audience are –Sankranthi and Dussera festivals.

Already, Telugu films of big stars like Pawan Kalyan and Balakrishna occupy good chunk of theatres from January 10 leaving little space for Telugu films. It is better to defer the release of Tamil star Surya’s ‘Gang’ to non-festival days to allow Telugu films to pocket more money than others,” says producer Nayimuddin.

However, producer Vamsi of UV Creations who has bought the Tamil star Surya’s ‘Gang’ for a whopping Rs 10 crore-plus will be putting across his view point sooner than later and will ensure the release of his film for Sankranthi in January.

“Some small and medium range producers and exhibitors are dependent on dubbed movies these days. Success of a film is determined by the content and not by any festival. Hence, curtailing the free run of dubbed movies is unfair”, concludes a lady producer who minted money with dubbed movies.

By BVS Prakash