Nakkhul, Udhaya, producer Dhananjayan Govind protest sudden release of Thimiru Pudichavan 

Thimirupudichavan's last-minute entry to the November 16 release date has ruffled a few feathers in the industry
Nakkhul, Udhaya, producer Dhananjayan Govind protest sudden release of Thimiru Pudichavan 

Earlier this year, the Tamil cinema strike had thrown the scheduling calendar off its wheels. The repercussions of that strike are still faced by a number of films looking for adequate screens to release their films. While the festive season of Deepavali was dominated by Vijay's Sarkar, which released alongside RK Suresh's Billa Pandi and Dinesh-starrer Kalavani Mappillai, there was one other movie that dropped out of the race due to the lack of screens — Vijay Antony's Thimirupudichavan.
 
However, Thimirupudichavan's last-minute entry to the November 16 release date has ruffled a few feathers in the industry. The date was already slotted by the Producers Council for Kaatrin Mozhi, Sei, Utharavu Maharaja and Chithiram Pesuthadi 2.

With the entry of TP to the November 16 race, the number of screens available for the other films has reduced. Talking about this development in the Sei press meet, Nakkhul said, "We were supposed to get close to 150 screens, but are now only promised 70 screens. Thimirupudichavan's last-minute announcement about joining the race has affected our release."

Actor Udhaya, who is starring and producing Utharavu Maharaja, released a statement urging the Producers council to solve the issue amicably and ensure only the formally agreed upon releases make it to the screens on November 16.

Dhananjayan, the producer of Kaatrin Mozhi, took to Twitter to share his displeasure with the progress of events and said that though Thimiru Pudichavan did get censored earlier, their decision to opt out of the Deepavali race cannot affect other films.

Nakkhul, whose film was ready for release early this year believes that all producers, big or small, need to abide by the rules and set a good precedent in the Tamil cinema industry. "It is getting tough for producers to make a good movie and release it. We waited for so long to release Sei, and the film is the culmination of a lot of our dreams. It is not right to trample on our dreams," said Nakkhul, who also shared that Vishal was batting for their cause in the Producer.

After discussions, a letter signed by the executive members of the council threatened of disciplinary action against producers who release their film without getting prior approval from the body.

However, responding to the brewing controversy, Fatima Vijay Antony, who is the producer of Thimiru Pudichavan admitted that their film's distributors had to miss the Deepavali release date because of the paucity of screens owing to Sarkar's release. "Sarkar occupied 800+ screens in TN, which was a shock. There was no screen regulation (by the producer council), but they are getting involved in date regulation," said Fatima in a series of tweets, adding that the Producers Council is their governing body, and they will abide by its decision. Meanwhile, Fatima also shared that since Chithiram Pesuthadi 2 has withdrawn from the November 16 release date, they can release Thimiru Pudichavan on Friday. 

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