Journalism of Courage
To cut losses incurred by producers once a film tanks, Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council (TFPC) has come up with a somewhat strange “request”. The Council has urged film reviewers to publish reviews of films that they deem are ‘bad’ three days after their release, and also asked theatre owners to not allow YouTubers to shoot film reviews on theatre premises.
Dhananjeyan, who produced Tamil films such as ‘Mr. Chandramouli’ and ‘Kaatrin Mozhi’ and is a member of the TFPC, however, clarified that this is only a “request” from the producers’ side.
The new request is part of a guideline the TFPC firmed up at a meeting of the Council on September 18.
“It is a democratic world, and anyone can voice his/her opinion, whenever,” Dhananjeyan said. It is only a request and it is not a new one — even Bollywood star Akshay Kumar has made a similar request before. If there is a bad film, why the urgency to release a negative review? The film will…anyway fail. Why kill it even more?”
If the review is positive, however, “it can come out on the same day,” Dhananjeyan said. “Any film has only a three-day window to make a difference at the box office.”
The producers, however, are aware that such requests might go unheard in the age of live Twitter reactions to newly released or upcoming films. Producer P T Selvakumar said, “I understand the request has been made due to the ongoing losses producers face due to instant reviews. However, I don’t know how online reviews can be curtailed…”
This is not the first time, however, that TFPC has come up with requests along these lines. In 2019, the producers’ council and the South Indian Film Media PRO Union announced that they will ban critics who pan films in their reviews. However, no such ban has been imposed until now.
The tussle between filmmakers and reviewers is also not new. In Tamil film industry, the latest one involves filmmaker Gautham Vasudev Menon and Blue Sattai Maran, a popular YouTube reviewer, for the latter’s take on the director’s new release, ‘Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu’.
Reacting to Maran’s critical review, Menon recently said in an interview with Thanthi TV, “I don’t want to use his name but since you asked… I am very angry with Blue Sattai Maran for the way he reviews the film… Erangi edhathu seiyalaamangra aalvuku kovam varudhu (I feel like I have to get down and do something about him… that’s how angry I am).”
