Not Strike, It’s To Save The Existence Of Film Industry: Dil Raju

Recently, several prominent Tollywood producers belonging to the active producer’s guild had assembled for an urgent meeting to discuss the various issues that have been plaguing the industry. Even as an official announcement on what transpired in the meeting is awaited, there have been speculations that the producers have decided to stall all their shootings immediately and go on a strike until they find an amicable solution.

However, top Tollywood producer cum distributor Dil Raju today revealed crucial info about the guild’s meeting. Interacting with the media at Thank You’s promotional event in Hyderabad, Dil Raju revealed that the guild had primarily discussed three important topics in the meeting and ruled out the possibility of an indefinite strike.

The hotshot producer revealed that Content, Direct OTT release and Ticket rates were the three big topics that were discussed in the meeting. “During Covid, several directors wrote random stories and even managed to get the approval of star heroes. In the meeting, we discussed if such stories will stand ground in the present scenario,” said Dil Raju.

“Audience’s mindset had changed during the lockdown. They watched quality content from across the world on OTT and it is now very difficult to impress them with ordinary content. So we have decided to drop such content. Even I have dropped at least ten such stories and even stalled two projects that were ready for production and I’m now organising re-discussions,” the producer revealed.

Dil Raju went on to reveal that direct OTT release was the second topic discussed in the meeting. “No producer gets the high by releasing his film directly on OTT. A direct OTT release only gets money to the producer., but the real high lies in the non-stop calls and the daily box office numbers we receive during a film’s theatrical release. That’s why we have decided to release our films on OTT only after 8 to 10 weeks after a film’s theatrical release,” he said.

And then, the Thank You producer revealed that the ticket price issue was the final topic that was discussed. “Expenses have increased drastically and audiences these days are not willing to spend thousand rupees on a film and are instead opting to watch them on OTT in a couple of weeks. We can clearly understand the situation if we notice the box office collections of the movies released recently,” he added.

“As producers, we decided to reduce the ticket prices. I took the initiative and reduced F3’s ticket prices. I am also going to screen Thank You for Rs 100 in single screens and Rs 150 in multiplexes,” said the star producer, adding that the guild will implement the decisions made in the meeting. This is no longer a producer’s issue, but has now become the industry issue,” he concluded.

As the veteran producer mentioned, it’s now the responsibility of the producers, directors and heroes to introspect and analyse to save the existence of the film industry. Directors must find out exciting ways to bring back audiences to theaters by coming up with solid content. Or, Tollywood will face the threat of theaters being permanently closed and producers and distributors losing heavily.