THANU SEEKS THE SUPPORT OF THE GOVERNMENT

As President of the Tamil Film Producers Council, Kalaipuli Thanu delivered his speech at the “Meet the Minister’ program with Honourable Minister M.Venkaiah Naidu, Minister for Urban Development, Urban Poverty Alleviation, Housing, Information & Broadcasting Ministry, on 17th July. Highlighting the importance of cinema and politics in the day to day life of the people of Tamil Nadu, the producer presented  certain issues before the minister that needed the support of the government.

According to him, in 2009, China’s film industry size was just around Rs.5,000 crore against India’s film industry of Rs.6,000 crore. In 2015, China’s film industry has grown to the size of Rs.45,000 crore while Indian film industry’s size is only Rs.13,500 crore. China focused on cinema screens and increased it from 4,700 in 2009 to almost 32,000 cinema screens in 2015. This was the primary reason for their big growth. In 2009, India had around 12,000 cinema screens and as of 2015, we have only around 12,500 screens. In Tamil Nadu, we have less than 1,000 cinema screens while what we need is a minimum 3,000 screens to cater to 8 crore people.

Citing the example of the Chinese Government, he sought special support from the government for the future growth of the cine industry. On this note, he requested tax subsidies from the government that would encourage the growth of more multiplexes. He stated that there is an insufficiency in the number of theatres and that it has led to an increase in piracy. The government should set up an archive for Tamil films and should increase the infrastructure facilities for Tamil Films Censor Board These were among the other requests placed before the Minister.