After 47 days, Tamil cinema’s longest strike has been called off

Since the 1st of March, Tamil film industry held a strike that prevented the release of new film releases, movie events, and movie shoots. This was done in order to condemn the strategy of the Digital Service Providers (DSP) charging Virtual Print Fee (VPF) from producers. The Malayalam, Kannada, and Telugu film industries expressed their solidarity by holding a strike for a minimum time, however, they later agreed to the new terms laid by the DSP.

Now, the TNFPC had announced that the strike will now be called off.

In a press conference, the President of the Film Producers Council, Vishal said “Firstly, a very big thanks to our Tamil Nadu Chief Minister for the fullest cooperation. The most important aspect is as per our request Tamil Nadu government has ordered all the theatres to go fully transparent from June 1. A G.O. will be passed soon on this. Ticket prices will become flexible depending upon the scale of the film – small and big movies. Each film’s ticket price will be decided, as per the film’s value and scale.”

The strike created a bitter divide between the film industry, the exhibitors, and the DSPs. There was harsh criticism when it came allowing only certain films to resume shooting. Several producers also grumbled about the heavy losses they incurred.

It was also the first time a Tamil film didn’t release on the auspicious occasion of Tamil new year which falls on 14th April every year. It has been reported that new films are likely to release from this Friday, 20th April.

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