Filmmakers feel estranged at home |
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Audience loses out on local flavour as theatre owner-distributor nexus thrives
Ranchi, May 19: Jharkhand filmmakers may be winning laurels internationally, but back home the situation is not that favourable.
Leave aside admiration, the directors don’t even get the opportunity to screen their movies in the state where it is based, denying local audience the chance to see what the film industry here is producing.
Thanks to the high-handedness and undue dominance of film distributors and the nexus between them, theatre owners in the state.
Shriprakash, a Ranchi-based filmmaker whose Nagpuri movie Bahawas was recently screened at a film festival in Berlin, said: “This is probably the first movie of Jharkhand film industry, which made its way to an international festival. But what saddens me is the fact that the movie cannot be screened in the home state where it is based.”
Though the film is legally entitled to be screened anywhere in the country, local theatre owners have refused to screen it here. “Those directors and producers who are members of Bihar and Jharkhand Motion Picture Association (BJMPA) can screen their movies in the state only,” said a cinema hall owner.
BJMPA, a body initially formed to protect the commercial and other interests of local cinema producers in the state, dominates the entire distribution scene.
“I, too, want to be a member of the BJMPA, but the problem is that the body is asking for an exorbitant amount of Rs 28,000 while similar bodies in other states charge a nominal Rs 500-600. This excludes the monthly subscription of Rs 1000. How can small filmmakers like us afford such an exorbitant amount?
“Another injustice of the body is that it gives an no objection certificate only to digitally shot movies. This deprives the screening of small budget and video shot films,” said Anil Sikdar, another city-based producer-cum-director whose film Jharkhand Ka Chaila is yet to be released after two years of making.
Asked what was the reason for keeping such a high membership fee, president of the BJMPA Sunil Kumar said: This is a deliberate attempt to put a curb on the entry of unwanted players in the state’s film business.”
The grievances of filmmakers do not end with the membership fee.
“To support the growth of vernacular language films in Jharkhand, the state should give us sufficient tax rebates. Cinema halls in the state should screen regional films at least for a week,” said Shriprakash.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090520/jsp/jharkhand/story_10993187.jsp