Distributors duping us,say Marathi film producers
On Friday,when Shivaji Doltades debut Marathi film as a producer Topiwale Kawale released,he asked a few of his crew members based in Solapur to visit a local theatre,Asha,and tell him how many people are watching the noon show there
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On Friday,when Shivaji Doltades debut Marathi film as a producer Topiwale Kawale released,he asked a few of his crew members based in Solapur to visit a local theatre,Asha,and tell him how many people are watching the noon show there. The members informed him that there were around 200 people in the audience. But when he asked the same question to his distributor,he was told only 25 people had turned up to watch the film.
Sensing fraud,Doltade soon left for Solapur from Pune,along with co-producer Anant Thorat,to examine the situation first hand. On the way,they stopped at Keshar theatre in Indapur,for which they had paid a rent of Rs 20,000 for a week for one show. To their surprise,the theatre was running Nasha,instead of Topiwale… in the time slot for which they had paid the rent. The theatre manager said they would run Topiwale Kawale only from Sunday, says Doltade.
On Saturday,Doltade went to Asha theatre as part of the audience with three of his crew members. He casually asked the theatre manager how many people were there in the theatre and if the film was worth watching. He said there were only eight people in the theatre. When we went inside,we saw around 125 people. Most of them didnt have tickets. We asked a few why were they sitting without the tickets; they said they had paid for the tickets but the person at the counter did not hand over the ticket, recalls Doltade,claiming he had paid Rs 30,000 to the distributor as theatre rent for one week for one show.
Doltade filed a complaint against the theatre owner,Amit Gandhi,and his staff at the Navi West police chowky,Solapur,on Saturday.
We have received an application. Such cases can be handled by the entertainment officer from the collectors office. We will be forwarding the application to him. Since it is a weekend,we are not able to reach him; we will be doing so on Monday, said Sub-Inspector Mahendra Gorakh Suryavanshi. Doltade is,however,not the only producer with such a complaint.
Mahesh Tilekar,who has produced Aadhar (2003),Gao Tasa Changla (2007),Ladi Godi (2011),and One Room Kitchen (2012),says he has become the victim of a similar fraud in the past. The distributor had released my film in Kurduwadi village near Solapur without informing me and was earning from its collection. My acquaintances in the area informed me and even mailed me a photo of the theatre with the poster of my film. But when I checked with the distributor,he denied. It is very common for the distributors to indulge in such practices; mostly new producers fall into this trap, he adds.
Doltade,who released his film in 35 theatres across the state,claims his film is meeting a similar fate at other places too. My associates told me that there were 350 people in the audience at Sheetal theatre of Raori (Ahmednagar),but the theatre manager reported 75. Similarly,the manager of Vishnu theatre of Kopargaon (Ahmednagar) told me 39 people came for the show,while my team member told me there were 250 people. I feel it is a big racket,and a lot of people are involved from top to bottom, says Doltade,adding that considering the magnitude of the fraud,he assumes to have lost Rs 1-1.5 lakh in just two days on his film that was made on a budget of Rs 75 lakh.
Raju Meshram,producer of Marathi film Power,that released in June this year,says most Marathi producers know they are duped by the distributors but dont take any action. It has been happening for a long time. Producers cannot visit each and every theatre and crosscheck how their films are doing. We have no choice but to blindly trust the distributor. If he takes rent from us of 20 theatres and runs the film in only five,we cant do anything but bear the loss, he says.
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