Telugu Film industry is in crisis

The Rs 1,000-cr Telugu film industry is in a crisis. It has fallen into an abyss and as things stand now, it will be near impossible for it to come out of it. Reason: the hero-director-writer have turned villains and stripped the producer of his money and legitimate position in the film industry. The affect of it was there to see in 2014. Out of the investment  of an average calculated figure of Rs 1,000 crore, the industry would have got back only 40 per cent returns.

Out of the nearly 200 films that have been produced, the highest number of straight films ever, the success rate has only been 8 to 10 per cent. "That is cause for concern. There are reasons why it is happening. The producer is just being treated like a cashier. All that he has to do is give money and stay away from every aspect of film-making," said Mohan Vadlapatla, producers' sector chairman, A P Film Chamber of Commerce.

Mohan Vadlapatla who is also the joint secretary of Telugu Film Producers Council (TFPC) said if the film industry has to flourish, the producer has to be brought back to the centre-stage. "The producer is the owner of the ship. He should necessarily have the liberty to even fire the captain of the ship, who is the director. If a film is not steered back to safety, it will hit the iceberg. The one who will sink is the producer himself," Vadlapatla said.

According to film industry sources, the performance of most films has been bad at the box-office and several films of top stars also disappointed. The affect is that producers are now not even able to raise money to producer films. "Earlier, if a producer got the dates of big heroes, financiers would come forward to provide the money. Today, the situation has drastically changed. Financiers are unwilling to make a gamble and take a chance. They are asking producers to deposit their property papers as guarantee," said producer K Ashok Kumar, who is the treasurer of A P Film Chamber of Commerce.

A clique has emerged in the Telugu film industry whose actions have become detrimental to the interests of producers and the film industry at large. The click of directors-stars-technicians is milking the producer dry. And the producer himself is being treated like dirt.

Top film heroes are literally running after successful directors. Time was when the producer used to work out the cast and crew of his film. Not anymore, at least for big-budget films. In fact, it is like that even for most small-budget films.

With heroes showing preference to work with certain directors, it is the directors who are now calling the shots. All that the directors are doing, in a new formula that has emerged is that, they hire the technicians and artistes and decide on their payments. All that the producer has to do is supply money and play spectator. It is learnt that some writers and technicians are charging up to Rs one crore per film.

"If we are in a mess today, it is because of the high production costs of films and low quality films," said V C Harinath Reddy, exhibitor from Pileru in Chittoor district. "There is only 20 per cent occupancy in theatres. And that is spelling the doom for many theatres. There were 2,700 theatres in AP and Telangana until a few years ago. Now there are only 1,600 as it is not profitable to be in cinema business anymore," Harinath Reddy said. Harinath Reddy who is executive member from the exhibitors sector in the A P Film Chamber of Commerce has several decades of experience in the film industry. In fact, his father V Shekhara Reddy used to run a touring talkies wherein films would be screened under tents. An analysis of the audience shows that out only males in the age group of 15-35 come to watch movies and hardly any women or families come to the theatres. "The film industry is just surviving just because some people are still suffering the brunt of it and keeping it alive. Otherwise, in general, the future looks dark bleak," he said.