Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

Film fraternity plea to Minister

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Oct. 15. The Trivandrum Film Fraternity has urged the Power Minister, Kadavoor Sivadasan, to reduce the fees charged for utilising certain locations and guest houses under the Kerala State Electricity Board for shooting Malayalam films.

A fraternity delegation comprising Suresh Gopi, actor, the directors, Viji Thampi and Shaji Kailas, the producers, G. Suresh Kumar, Kireedom Unni, and B. Rakesh, and Renjith Karthikeyan, called on the Minister and submitted a memorandum seeking to reduce the fees.

The Trivandrum Film Fraternity is an organisation meant to foster friendship and to encourage professionalism in the industry.

The delegation told the Minister that the KSEB has some exquisite locations where there are guest houses and bungalows which are ideal for film shooting. Now the board is charging Rs. 50,000 from the production companies per day for shooting films in these locations.

Due to the escalation of cost in Kerala, Malayalam films are now being shot in the neighbouring States, where the Governments are giving due encouragement to the industry. Shooting locales are either provided free of cost or at reasonable rates.

This has led to a flow of capital to the neighbouring States. Kerala also stands to lose employment opportunities, they said.

If the State Government and the KSEB are providing facilities, it would benefit both the State as well as the industry. The fraternity sought the immediate intervention of Mr. Sivadasan to ensure that only a nominal fees was being charged for Malayalam films using the locales under the board. The availability of shooting spots at affordable rates will help bring down the cost of production and give a boost to the industry, which is reeling under a crisis.

Mr. Sivadasan assured the delegation that he would consider the issue favourably and the next board meeting will look into it, they said.

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