Jyotika’s Kaatrin Mozhi, Vijay Antony’s Thimiru Pudichavan and Uththaravu Maharaja are set to hit screens this Friday.
Nakkhul starrer Sei has finally backed out of the race giving more screens to Jyotika’s Kaatrin Mozhi, Vijay Antony’s Thimiru Pudichavan and Uththaravu Maharaja this Friday. A press release from Trippy Turtle Productions, the makers of Sei, read, “The situation was due to the release of an unscheduled movie which wasn’t permitted by the Tamil Film Producers Council.”
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Nakkhul said, “We’ve been waiting to release Sei since November last year. On the whole, 150 screens were allocated for our film. But after Thimiru Pudichavan’s release date was announced (on November 16) it got reduced to 70 or 60 screens. I feel cheated. I have nothing against Vijay Antony or his producer-wife Fatima. But it’s unfair if they are going to release their film on the date which was allotted to my film. Their reasons could be genuine, but the situation is highly unfortunate.”
Directed by Ganeshaa, Thimiru Pudichavan was supposed to release alongside Sarkar on November 6. Producer of the film Fatima Vijay Antony told us, “I thought we could hit the theaters for Deepavali, but Sarkar occupied almost 800 screens. If it had 500-something screen occupancy, I’d have at least got a few. I was not the reason why the film was postponed to the following week. The decision was with the distributors. I’m already in distress because of the losses that Kaali (Vijay Antony’s previous film) fetched me. No matter what, I’d like to release the film (both in Tamil and a dubbed version in Telugu) on November 16. Had the Council regulated the screen allocation, there wouldn’t have been any issue. If I miss out this date, I’ll have to fight with 2.0, Adanga Maru, Seethakathi and Maari 2, which is remotely impossible.”
Further, Fatima points out how a couple of years ago, multiple releases on the same date was possible. “Only for the past one year, after new rules were implemented by the Council, there has been a huge pressure. At this juncture, I wonder why Sei had to back out — when they got a censor certificate much ahead of any other film. Kaatrin Mozhi should ideally step out.”
She said, “The Jyotika’s film was the last one to be censored and certified. So far, the release date allotment is based on the date of when a film completes such procedures officially. There’s no clarity as to how it can qualify for a release all of a sudden.”
Fatima Vijay Antony also added how it’s been difficult to reach the office bearers of the Tamil Nadu Film Producers Council. “We’ve a common WhatsApp group, but nobody responds to messages and calls. Half the time, the top members are unavailable to respond to queries.”