The Malayalam film industry finds itself in a stalemate after The Kerala Film Chamber came up with some restrictions and developments followed,from all quarters.It all began with the Kerala Film Chamber asking film stars and singers not to appear on TV and stage shows. The Chamber made it clear that it had entered into an agreement with AMMA (The Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes) a few years back about this,but things were not implemented properly and hence the ban. The ban,of course,elicited objection and dissent from several members of the film fraternity,especially since many of them were making regular appearances in television shows,including reality shows and stage shows.Singer M.G.Sreekumar even went to the extent of saying that hed stop singing for films altogether if the ban was imposed strictly. He pointed out that television shows have kept things going for him,earning him more money than films. The Film Chamber issued a show-cause notice to Sreekumar. Meanwhile actor Suresh Gopi spoke out supporting the ban. Actor Jagadeesh hit back at Gopi,following which the latter apologised. As for the Chambers ban,a final call is yet to be taken,especially since AMMA and the Chamber are yet to discuss the matter and reach a conclusion.In the meantime,the Chamber had also reportedly expressed its intentions to impose restrictions on the stars remunerations and production costs.It might be recalled that the Kerala Film Producers Association indefinitely stopped the production of films from April 16. It wanted to cut costs and was seeking the stars co-operation. The Association has made it clear that without senior artistes and superstars cooperating on this count,it wont be possible to cut costs and make movies that earn profit. Discussions on this issue are on the anvil between AMMA and the Producers Association. Another recent development was the formation of the Kerala Television Federation (KTF) by Television channels operating from Kerala. With K. Madhavan (Asianet) as the president and Ajay Vidyasagar (Surya) as the vice-president,the KTF has stated that television as a medium continues to give maximum support to the Malayalam film industry. The channels pay up as much as 40 to 50 per cent of production costs,while purchasing broadcasting rights. The Federation has also pointed out that no other vernacular film industry gets such a support,at least in south India. They have cited the case of Tamil Nadu where funds thus materialised amounts to no more than 10 to 15 per cent of the costs. Funds procured in this manner by Kerala-based filmmakers are enough to take care of the production overheads,the KTF pointed out.With all these developments occurring one after the other and with the stalemate continuing,it remains to be seen what will happen next. Lets hope it all gets resolved,for the sake of Malayalam cinema.
