Actor and President of the Tamil Film Producers' Council Vishal on Wednesday confirmed that the over a month long strike in the Tamil film industry is officially over.
The Tamil Film Producers' Council had called for a strike from March 1, over DSPs charging Virtual Print Fee or VPF from producers. While the other south Indian film industries expressed solidarity with their demands, the Kannada and Malayalam industries observed only a one day token strike. The Telugu industry persisted but eventually agreed to the new terms offered by the DSPs.
The Tamil industry, on the other hand, also halted shooting of films from March 16.
Vishal took to Twitter to announce that theatrical releases of Tamil films will now continue as before and shooting of new films will also begin soon.
Some of the other measures that are being rolled out by the industry are reduction of e-cinema rates to 50% and computerised ticketing from June to ensure transparency.
Vishal also thanked Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) workers, director RK Selvamani and all the other producers who stood for their demands till the very end.
Yes da "revamp"s over..v r gud 2 go 4 theatrical releases n shoot starts soon 1.Ecinema rates reduced to 50%.D cinema on da way.computerised tcktn fm https://t.co/FygSgCSDDw cinema 2 b 100% https://t.co/RHwEOYJ4yy tcktn 2 b subsidised.flexibility of txtng wil benefit small movies
— Vishal (@VishalKOfficial) April 18, 2018
/2. My sincere thanks to Fefsi workers n RK Selvamani sir n all producers who stood United for this to https://t.co/FGoMuL7DdP sincere thanks to Kadambur Raju sir n Veeramani sir. Gud times ahead for Tamil cinema.god bless
— Vishal (@VishalKOfficial) April 18, 2018
The strike is the longest ever that the Tamil industry has undertaken and for the first time, there were no releases for the Tamil New Year, a much coveted date at the box office. There are reports that the TFPC will set up a committee to decide on the schedule of releases for films which were delayed because of the strike. All eyes are on the Rajinikanth starrer Kaala which was supposed to release on April 27. According to the grapevine, the film will be pushed to June although there is no official confirmation as yet.
The strike saw a bitter battle between the film industry, the exhibitors and the DSPs. However, even though the Tamil industry stood united on the face of it, there were grumbles about the heavy losses caused due to the strike and the preferential treatment given to some films when it came to permitting shooting. Actor Arvind Swami had recently tweeted that he was getting 'tired' of the strike.