Various film-related bodies, including the Central Board of Film Certification, which were moved out of the Kalabhavan theatre complex a few years ago, are set to return to the complex, according to Kerala State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC) chairperson Rajmohan Unnithan.
With a fried chicken outlet run by a private party opening on the ground floor of the complex on Friday, Mr. Unnithan has decided to move out his office to some other rented building in the vicinity.
Till a couple of years ago, the complex used to house the National Film Archives, Kerala State Cultural Activists Welfare Fund Board, National Film Development Corporation, the Central Board of Film Certification, the Federation of Film Societies of India and other cultural organisations.
According to Mr. Unnithan, it was the then Cinema Minister who forced out these organisations to make way for the chicken counter.
“The director board of the KSFDC met this week and decided to bring back all these film bodies, for whom this complex was actually meant for. According to the KSFDC’s guidelines, it can only be used for a film-related body. It was the previous governing council under Sabu Cherian who decided to lease out an entire floor to the chicken outlet,” says Mr. Unnithan.
The officials at the regional office of the Censor Board, now located on the Chithranjali campus at Thiruvallam, had in July written to the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting asking to relocate the office to the Kalabhavan complex. After the Premam piracy issue, in which fingers were pointed at the board, the lack of security at the current office had come to the fore.
“We had written to the I&B ministry as well as our headquarters in Mumbai to shift the office back to the original location inside the Kalabhavan complex. The officials as well as those who have to get their films certified were finding it difficult to travel all the way to the Thiruvallam campus. Also, there were concerns regarding security of the prints submitted for certification. If the shift actually happens, then it would be good,” says a censor official.
Space constraints
Finding enough space for all the film bodies will be a problem with the Coastal Area Development Corporation office on the first floor and the KSFDC occupying the entire second flood.
Difference in rent
The film bodies were earlier given the area at a rent of Rs.7 per sq ft. The new chicken outlet will pay Rs.70 a sq ft. An area of 2,500 sq ft at the ground floor has been given to the outlet for 10 years.
“There is irregularity even in the granting of tender to the chicken outlet. All contracts of the KSFDC are for a maximum period of 3 years. This was strictly followed even in last week in giving space to a cafeteria inside the Kairali theatre complex in Kozhikode. But, here they gave it for 10 years,” says Mr. Unnithan.
On his plans to shift his office to a rented space near the complex, he said: “I can’t sit above a chicken outlet.”
A chicken outlet was opened in the complex recently
Censor Board office wants to shift to complex
