Despite the total shutdown announced by the Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) in protest against digital service providers, the shooting of actor Vijay’s untitled next venture with director A.R. Murugadoss, which went ahead as planned in Victoria House in Chennai, resulted in criticism of TFPC’s preferential treatment for actors.
The film, produced by Sun Pictures, is one of the few movies for which shooting has been allowed despite the TFPC’s stricture to stop production and post-production activities. TFPC treasurer S.R. Prabhu said four films were given permission for valid reasons.
“We have already explained the reasons behind it. In the case of Vijay’s film, a majority of the crew members are from Andhra Pradesh and they have been staying in Chennai for the shoot. And since only a couple of days remain for the schedule to get over, they were allowed to shoot,” said Mr. Prabhu.
He further said that while the TFPC had called for a strike, it was not their intention to hurt producers. “We want to accommodate producers’ interests as much as possible. This is why the TFPC looked at these cases and decided in their favour,” he said.
Stakeholders unhappy
A few other stakeholders, however, didn’t accept the explanation and said the TFPC should have been open about exempting certain films from the strike.
Actor Rajinikanth clearly stated that he was not in favour of stoppage of work and urged the parties to find an amicable solution.
“I have always stressed that a strike is not the solution as it puts people out of work,” he said.
Former Nadigar Sangam president R. Sarathkumar, whose film was being shot in Kumbakonam, said the producer of his film decided not to shoot after the TFPC decision. “Only after people found out that the shooting of certain films is going on and started talking about it on Twitter and Facebook did the TFPC come up with an explanation. What they should have said is that they are going on a strike from March 16 and these four people have been given permission to continue their shooting and that if others have a valid reason, they can also get permission,” he said.
He said, “A set has been erected in Kumbakonam for my film and I was supposed to shoot continuously from March 16. I have to shoot without a beard for a Kannada film next month. So, I am forced to come back to this film at a later date.”
Producer J. Sathish Kumar also strongly opposed the ‘special’ permission. “When lakhs of people (daily workers) land up without a job, it's not fair letting a few people work. Biggies like @actor vijay shouldnt encourage this; instead, he should put his efforts to solve our needs,” he wrote on Twitter.
An executive producer, whose film starring a leading woman actor is being shot entirely in the jungles, said, “I was planning to shoot my film from the last week of March but gave up the idea. But, now, we hear that special permissions were given to a few films. If we were told this was possible, even we would have asked to be exempted,” he said.
