Bharathiraja requests Kollywood technicians and actors to take a pay cut

Senior filmmaker Bharathiraja has written an open letter to the technicians and actors of Tamil cinema, requesting them to take a 30 per cent voluntary pay cut to help producers who are in debt because of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Bharathiraja stated that the producers of several unfinished films are unable to raise funds through the sales of digital, audio, and satellite rights. He added that they are unable to even pay interest on the loans they had taken for their films. 

“In this situation, it is the responsibility of all actors and technicians to come forward and help the producers whose films are under production and are stuck due to this lockdown. The producers can only come out of this trying condition, and release their films smoothly, if their total investment in films is reduced by at least 40 to 50 per cent. Only then, even if their films do not fetch big revenues, can they come out without much loss,” Bharathiraja said in the letter. 

He also clarified that he is making this request only to high-paid actors and technicians, who earn more than ten lakhs for a film. “We are making this request only for those films which were under production and are stuck due to Covid-19, and not for new films that you sign now, for which you and the producers may decide on appropriate remuneration. It's for the films which were stuck for over six months due to this pandemic that we are making this request,” he said in the letter.

It may be recalled that all artistes in the Telugu film industry will be subject to a mandatory 20 per cent pay cut, and Kerala film bodies, like the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) and the Kerala Film Producers Association (KFPA), have also given the nod to the idea of cutting payments.