It is currently festival season in Kerala, which is also the time the Malayalam film industry flourishes. With the Eid and Vishu holidays, filmmakers bank on the season to release their projects for increased gains. However, this year turned out to be a disappointment and a shock as PVR-INOX has decided to boycott Malayalam films in its multiplexes across India. Besides not screening new releases Varshangalkku Shesham, Aavesham, Jai Ganesh, and Marivillin Gopurangal, PVR has also taken down Prithviraj’s Aadujeevitham, which has been doing well at the box office.
The reason behind PVR-INOX’s drastic move is the ongoing conflict between Malayalam filmmakers (and theatre owners) and PVR-INOX regarding the Virtual Print Fee (VPF). It is a charge paid to service providers like QUBE for screening films in multiplexes. Kerala producers have opposed the fees for a long time now as it ends up eating into the profit of the makers and theatre owners.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Subramanian aka Evershine Mani, Secretary of the Film Distribution Association of Kerala, unpacks the problem between the two factions. “PVR has done a blunder. They shouldn’t have stopped the films,” he begins.
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“There are many service providers like QUBE, UFO, Sony, and the likes. They provide virtual print for theatres like PVR and other multiplexes, and they charge a fee called VPF which is exorbitant. For one week, they charge Rs 11,500. If it is for multiplexes with four or five screens, they charge Rs 24,500. For one show, Rs 450… like that, they have many schemes,” he revealed. To avoid this cost, the producers council in Kerala came up with their own service provider after a lot of training and studying the technology.
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“We started our own content mastering unit two years back called PDC. Gradually, we are asking all theatres to change to our content mastering scheme because our charges are just Rs 3500 per week, Rs 5500 for a lifetime, and in multiplexes, it will be Rs 7500. This will hugely benefit the producers, who are already losing money while making the film and distributing it,” he said.
The producers council has been providing virtual print services to theatres for the past few years. However, since PVR-INOX and other multiplexes have a contract with service providers like QUBE, they refuse to avail the service of the producers council, which has led to the conflict. “These multiplexes have a long contract with them and that says they can’t use our technology. They also have a binding clause in the agreement that they should not use any other service,” Subramanian further revealed.
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The producers council also claimed that any new multiplexes in the state should only use their technology and that became the reason for the problem to reach its crescendo. The newly opened PVR-INOX theatre at Forum Mall in Kochi recently refused to use PDC. A negotiation between PVR-INOX and producers council ended up in a stalemate.
On the other, Kamal Gianchandani, the CEO of PVR-INOX, has released a statement claiming that the Kerala film producers union is forcing them to only opt for PDC. According to him, it goes against the laws and is prohibitive under law. The official statement read, “At the outset, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to all our Producer and Distributor friends in Malayalam Film Industry for their unwavering support for the theatrical platform and their significant contribution to the revival of theatres post Covid-19. No one holds greater respect for all the Producers releasing their films in our theatres than all of us at PVRINOX.”
Addressing the issue with the newly inaugurated 9-screen PVR-INOX theatre in Kochi’s Forum Mall, he wrote, “Our cinemas has been advised by the Association to source Malayalam movie content exclusively through one channel i.e. through the content mastering and distribution network run by the association. Such an action of forcing an exhibitor to procure content from only one source is anticompetitive in nature and prohibited under the law. As a law-abiding member of Indian Film Industry, we are unable to comply with this advice.”
Here’s the complete statement of Kamal:
Statement regarding release of Malayalam Films at PVR Forum Kochi #PVRINOX #Malayalam #Malayalamfilms pic.twitter.com/f92VnZLoaV
— Kamal Gianchandani (@kamalgianc) April 11, 2024
However, according the Subramanian, the producers council had asked PVR-INOX to share the screens between PDC and other service providers. “For now, we asked them to go with their service providers in the old screens, but for new screens we want them to use our service. We also asked to divide the screens between PDC and other players. But they have abruptly stopped screening all Malayalam films. This was a bad decision. They have to remember recently all theatre owners survived because of three Malayalam films Manjummel Boys, Brahmayugam, and Premalu. We are going to fight this in court,” Subramanian concluded.
Looks like PVR-INOX theatres in Kerala and across India will not screen Malayalam films in the coming days. It has to be seen who is going to be affected by this boycott of Malayalam cinema by the multiplex chain.
