After announcement, Salman’s father, Salim Khan schedules meeting with distributors to compensate them for Tubelight
A fortnight ago, there was news that Salim Khan had announced his decision to compensate distributors for their losses in Tubelight, after some of them had met Salman at his Galaxy residence in Bandra. According to sources, Khan Sr has now called for a meeting with leading distributors to discuss and evaluate the extent of losses they suffered with the film. Prior to that, he has also asked for a list of exhibitors to examine the terms and look into possible losses. Apparently, some exhibitors had booked the film on huge Minimum Guarantees, expecting it to make box-office history keeping in mind that it was an Eid release.
Veteran Central India distributor JP Choksey, who has been consistently releasing Salman starrers in the past, has hailed the gesture. “My office releases all the films directly through Salim Khan’s office, but it is true that Khan Sr has called for this meeting. Salim saab felt that the distributors who had released the film needed to be compensated to some extent. It is a very noble initiative from Salman and his father and it will set a precedent to all other stars to follow,” he said.
According to Choksey, this would be the second big instance after Raj Kapoor where a producer is going ahead to compensate his distributors, “Raj Kapoor was a generous person at heart. When Mera Naam Joker flopped, he told the distributors of the subsequent film Bobby, to deduct the losses before fixing the price of the film. It had come as a huge relief,” Choksey said, adding that another great actor is Rajinikanth, “Rajinikanth’s films hardly suffer losses, but when there was an exception like Lingaa, he compensated each and every distributor.”
The former FFI (Film Federation of India) President insists it wasn’t Salman’s star value but the script and story of Tubelight that got the disastrous response, “Salman’s presence in the film saved it to an extent, but it was his submissive characterisation that went completely against his image. The story was a letdown towards the end when the girl who was initially projected as Chinese, went on to reveal her real identity from Kolkata. It didn’t seem convincing.”
Meanwhile, the exhibitors have hailed the decisions. Leading exhibitor, Akshaye Rathi, who released the film at several theatres, feels it would be a big step in ensuring the well-being of the industry, “It’s a thoughtful gesture for the health of the industry. Distributors invest crores of rupees and it is the responsibility of producers to make sure that they at least don’t lose money. Raj Kapoor and Rajinikanth have done it in the past and that’s what makes them the superstars of stars,” he said, adding that even Shah Rukh had done it in Dilwale and several other occasions when he along with Juhi Chawla and Aziz Mirza had their company, Dreamz Unlimited.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Salman-Salim")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}