The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : ‘Priority status’ sought for film industry

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Saturday, Nov 21, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

‘Priority status’ sought for film industry

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: Film industry must be given a ‘priority industry’ status and archives must be set up to preserve yesteryear films. These were among the recommendations framed by core committee members of FICCI at the end of the two-day Media and Entertainment Business conclave here on Thursday.

The recommendations will be submitted to the Centre before the next budget, actor and the Conclave Chairman Kamal Haasan told mediapersons. The core committee team comprising 32 members, including directors K. Balachander and Maniratnam and actors Mammootty and Mohanlal, had drafted the recommendations based on the deliberations at the conclave. The priority industry status, Mr. Kamal Haasan said, would result in the banks offering loans at relatively less interest rates.

“Many of my own films are facing a slow death as there are no ways to preserve those original copies. An archive must be set up with the support of government, which would save the richness of Indian cinema,” he said.

The government should set up a registry to record copyrights and ownerships for all films to avoid legal problems, he said. Older films should be taken into account while creating a registry and ownership issues must be resolved before adding them in the registry.

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