The arc lights went dark in the cash-dependent film industry in Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad, as technicians walked away even from star projects and the release of big films was postponed.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was announcing the big decision on black money and fake currency on Tuesday night, Nadirshah, in Chennai, was making the final arrangements to release his new Malayalam film.
Kattappanayile Hrithik Roshan was scheduled to reach cinemas on Friday. Its release has now been postponed by a week, as is Dhyan Sreenivasan-starrer Ore Mukham .
“There is no point in releasing a film when people have no currency notes, so I felt I should delay the release,” Nadirshah said on Thursday. “If I was the viewer, my priority would not be to spend my money on a film at a time like this,” he said.
While he had the option to postpone the release, others with movies already in theatres could only suffer losses. “There has been a sharp decline in the box office collection over the last two days,” said A.P. Hubai, manager, Film City, Kozhikode. “ Pulimurugan has become the biggest casualty. It had been running to full houses since its first show in our multiplex, but the collection has dipped by half since the removal of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes.”
However, new Tamil and Hindi films were expected to be released as per the original schedule. “Those films are almost certain to be affected, at least for the next few days,” he said. “There is the option of buying tickets online and you could also pay through debit or credit cards at the counter, but we have found most people prefer currency notes.”
Technicians stop work In Hyderabad, schedules were in disarray as the shooting of at least half-a-dozen Telugu films came to a grinding halt. Producers could not find the cash to pay the daily wages of technicians who represent 24 crafts in the industry.
Among these, the biggest production now in the works is a film with actors Rakul Preet Singh and Mahesh Babu, and it is helmed by Murugadoss.
This venture is being jointly-produced by the actor and director themselves.
Shooting for the film was on at different parts of the twin cities. On Wednesday, technicians refused to report for shooting because their wage payments could not be made on Tuesday evening. The situation continued on Thursday. Technicians in the industry - from the light boy to those in costumes, make-up and ground staff are paid in cash every evening.
Unavoidable problems Cash problems were nagging prominent producer B.V.S.N. Prasad, of the Pawan Kalyan-starrer Atharintiki Daredi .
Mr. Prasad was to have released Intlo Deyyam Naakem Bhayam, starring Allari Naresh and directed by G. Nageswara Reddy, this Friday.
The producer was forced to make an official statement that the release had to be postponed indefinitely due to ‘unavoidable’ problems.
However, Katamarayudu starring Shruti Haasan and Pawan Kalyan, directed by Kishore ‘Dolly’ Pardhasani and produced by Sharrat Marar completed its schedule on Wednesday.
