Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 13 The top Malayalam film producers remain divided on the June 1 strike after leading producer Antony Perumbavur on Thursday alleged that no decision has been made regarding the strike on the said date.
Earlier, veteran producer G. Suresh Kumar had called for a complete shutdown of the Malayalam film industry against soaring remunerations and unfriendly policies.
“I don’t think that a decision to observe complete shutdown was taken. Suresh Kumar might have some vested interests and that is why he has called for a shutdown. In our industry, scores of people make a living out of it. It is surprising how Suresh Kumar can reach such a decision,” said Perumbavur in a social media post.
Upcoming superstar Prithviraj and popular actor Unni Mukundan, who also own production houses, have also supported Perumbavur against Suresh Kumar.
However, Suresh Kumar hit back at Perumbavur, saying that he is sitting in a responsible position in the producers association and could not take such a decision without consulting others.
“We gave the shutdown call on June 1 after thoroughly discussing with all segments of the film industry. The minutes of the meeting are also with me,” Kumar said.
He added that he started producing films when Perumbavur was just beginning to watch the films.
“I cannot say anything to such irresponsible statements. Antony Perumbavur has hardly attended these meetings. He has no idea what happened in the last week’s meeting,” Kumar said.
On February 6, various Malayalam film bodies called for a total shutdown of all film activities, including shooting and screening of films, from June 1.
Making this announcement last week, Suresh Kumar said that this industry which is already in the doldrums with film after film bombing at the box office has left the producers in a quandary.
“There is no industry which is being taxed at 30 per cent and it includes GST besides additional entertainment tax. The government has to step in and withdraw this," said Suresh Kumar.
He added that the remuneration of actors and others has skyrocketed like never before and it has to be scaled down.
“60 per cent of the cost of a film is gobbled up by remuneration to the actors which is hugely detrimental to a producer. They (actors) have no concern for this and we just cannot go forward in this manner," he said.
He said that even the new actors charge a hefty fee and so is the same with directors too but a film that can be finished in 50 days gets over in 150 days.
“Not even 10 per cent is recovered from the theatres compared to the remuneration of the actors. We will not cooperate with the films produced by the actors. During the calendar year, 176 Malayalam films bombed at the box office. During January 2025, the loss for the theatres alone was Rs 101 crore,” Suresh said.
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