As the dispute between film producers and theater owners in Kerala rages on, actor-producer Prithviraj Sukumaran has termed the strike 'unnecessary'.
He said the strike, launched at a time when the cinema industry in Kerala was charged with a new vigor post Mohanlal-starrer Pulimurugan's 100-cr success, was unnecessary and illogical. Questioning the logic behind the striking theater owners' demand for higher share of profits, Prithviraj said he did not believe that even a single 'A' class theater in the state was suffering losses.
"I'm not going to list out criteria of profit sharing and taxes to be paid now, once a person comes to know about them, he will understand how difficult it is to get back the investment for a film," he said in a Facebook post in Malayalam on Thursday.
Explaining the logic behind following a different profit-sharing pattern for multiplexes, Prithviraj said a film is screened 15-20 times a day in a multiplex. "Moreover, how many single-screen theaters in Kerala can claim that they are offering same facilities of a multiplex? If they claim to do so, why then can't the theaters go for a common rating panel/body which will rate all theaters and fix profit share scales," he said.
Making it clear that he is with the producers and distributors in this fight, Prithviraj said he hoped to see large crowds thronging theaters very soon.
A section of theater owners have stopped release and screening of Malayalam films, plunging the multi-crore industry into an unprecedented crisis. While theater owners demand 50 percent share of profits, producers and distributors have rubbished the demand as impractical.