No more arm-twisting

Multiplex owners say they won’t be held to ransom by filmmakers

A day before ‘Fanaa’ was to release, multiplex owners and Yash Raj Studios were battling it out over revenue sharing.

In what would have been an unprecedented move, the Association of Multiplex Theatre Owners decided to not to screen ‘Fanaa’ at any multiplex. But at the last moment, one multiplex chain capitulated to Yash Raj’s demands for a hike in their share of profits and the whole house came crumbling down.

Similarly, Vidhu Vinod Chopra held his ground for ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ and Yash Raj did it again with ‘Dhoom 2’. But now multiplex owners are determined to take the battle right to the big producers.

The association held a long meeting in Delhi last week to work out their game plan for the future. Not only are they considering a blanket rule for revenue sharing that will apply uniformly to all producers and distributors irrespective of how big they are, they also want to implement a strong deterrent to dissuade multiplex owners from giving in to a distributors’ demand.

“We are trying to find a way out of this. We are still deciding as to how to go ahead and negotiate the terms and conditions. We have floated a suggestion to ask multiplex owners for a deposit which will be forfeited if they default. We are still debating on it and will take a call soon,” said Rashesh Kanakia of Cinemax.

With a formal resolution yet to take shape, the big production houses are adopting a wait and watch policy. But they can hardly be expected to take this lying down and there may be fireworks in the days to come. Watch this space.

s_shubha@dnaindia.net