Non Kannada film screening theaters shut shops in Karnataka

Continued tussle between producers and exhibitors of Karnataka showbiz industry has reached its heights today (Monday, 30th August) by closing down most of the non-Kannada film screening theaters across the state. The recent rally organized by Producers' Association to protect the ailing Kannada film industry has brought pressure on the ruling government and an expert committee formed couple of week ago has submitted its report and recommendations to the government. As per the current order by the government, the seven week moratorium of non-Kannada films received a major protest from film exhibitors in Karnataka. As part of this protest, many non-Kannada film screening theaters in K.V. Dhananjai

Bangalore and other part of the state remained closed for an indefinite period. According to Film Theater Owners' Association President K.V. Dananjay there are 115 theaters in Bangalore alone and 74 of them depend on non-Kannada films. Entertainment tax collected from these 74 theaters is nearly Rs. 33 crores every year. Government will lose this revenue by the new policy imposed he said.

"Our intention of shutting down the theaters is not to protest. Is not viable to operate this way. Responsibility of non-Kannada films rests with the distributors. With current situation they are not coming forward. So we are left with no other option than closing down the theaters" said K.V. Dananjay. Exhibitors have submitted their request to the government to resolve the issue at the earliest. Some of the theaters that were shutdown are Innovative Multiplex, Urvashi, Symphony, Abhinaya, Kailash, Tribhuvan, Cauvery, Naga, Nataraj, Sampige, Vaibhav, Lavanya, Parimala, Movieland, Rex etc. Bellary is another place apart from Bangalore where Telugu films take the lion share witnessed theater shutdowns.

As the ripples of seven week moratorium for non-Kannada films Karnataka reached the big boys of Bollywood, a high level ministry delegation led by Samajavadi Party general secretary Amar Singh met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on last Friday and requested him to intervene in the issue. They were stressing on the point of bedlam and lose the Indian film industry is incurring by this move.