Nallamalupu Bujji, producer of Chintakayala Ravi, is not happy with some of the decisions taken by the Film Chamber of Commerce, State Government, & how ineffective piracy cell is. He went to say that the chamber is run by those who are not presently making movies and/or striving for positions but the bad effects of the decisions are seen on the producers making movies.
Bujji was referring to the removal of the two week price hike for the films. That convenience got in good revenues for the producers; especially the big producers. Removal of this system and not being able to curb the piracy is turning out evil for the producer. Bujji vented out his anger on the same lines in a press meet organized on Thursday.
Bujji strongly retorted to those who termed this 2 week price hike as ripping off the small producer and the audiences. 'Removing the hike in the first 2 weeks is causing huge loss to the big producer. And the ticket price hike was brought into place to save the producers of big budget films from piracy. Dasari endorsed and helped get the two weeks hike policy come into effect. He was very active then with distribution. Just because he is out of distribution market, he is turning against it in the name of supporting small producers', said Nallamalupu Bujji criticizing Dasari.
In fact the state Government earlier assured the ticket price hike effective for 12 films. 'When they saw that Pawan Kalyan's Puli and Ramcharan's film were also in the list, they ignored the plea and continued with the removal of the price effective to the other 10 films also. So it turned out that because of these two films, the rest of the films had to suffer', said Bujji.
He further added, 'Governments will change but producers are here to stay in the industry. Look at Chintakayala Ravi now. Every one says that the film is good but there is no revenue. I do not have the satisfaction that the film is a hit. Added to the existing woes, the ticket prices are below the standard. Even in Bihar and Assam, the ticket prices are 60-80 Rs. But in Andhra, Balcony is still 35 Rs. More interesting is the fact that balcony rate in 2001 was 50 Rs and in 2008 it is 35 Rs. How fair game is this?'.
'Piracy will put a big dent in the revenue and with the removal of the 2 week hike, producer is bound to see this big hole in his pocket. Piracy cell is very ineffective. You wouldnt believe this but I bought the piracy CD of my own film for 30 Rs. I filed 40 cases so far. We seized 4000 pirated CDs in a train between Tirupati and Chennai. Most hopeless thing is that the film was broadcasted on cable TV in Chilakaluripeta and when the owner was arrested following our complaint; local MLA came to his rescue and got him released in no time. In another similar incident, police made the compromise for 5000 Rs', said Bujji.
