The producers of Vijay starrer ‘Thalaivaa’ on Saturday said the film would be released “as soon as possible”.
Sunil Chandraprakash Jain of Mishri Film Productions, which produced the film, told The Hindu on Saturday night that the details were still being worked out for the release of the film. He was unwilling to commit on a probable date.
The State DGP has categorically stated that the police had not sought any postponement of the film’s release. “Any delay or deferment is not at the instance of the police,” the DGP K.Ramanujam said in a press statement. “The decision to release and the date of release are within the domain of the film industry.”
Though the film’s producers and distributors have not gone on record on the reason why the film did not release in Tamil Nadu alone, whereas it is being screened in other parts of the country, industry circles were abuzz that re-negotiations were going on between the producers and exhibitors since the government on Thursday refused to grant entertainment tax exemption for the movie.
The entertainment tax accounted for 30 per cent of the admission rates at theatres, and this had a ripple effect across the distributor-exhibitor network and hence the need to re-negotiate, an industry insider said, on condition of anonymity.
Denial of exemption by a review committee formed by the Commercial Taxes department seems to be very rare.
A cursory review of the panel’s orders, as seen on the department’s website www.tnvat.gov.in, shows that tax exemption were granted to most of the films submitted. The last time an application was rejected before ‘Thalaivaa’ was for a relatively unknown film titled ‘Paakanum Pola Irruku’ in March.
The film’s delay is forcing some of the actor’s hardcore fans to move to neighbouring states of Kerala and Karnataka to catch the movie, where it has released on Friday.