BENGALURU : Members of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) gave a representation to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) last week, as they were worried about business getting hit post the flex ban in Bengaluru. “We met with BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad last Wednesday and discussed our concerns about putting up banners within theatre premises. He said it would be allowed if cloth was used instead of flex, and if it was within the complex only," says president of KFCC, SA Chinne Gowda.
Executive committee member of exhibitors and former vice-president of exhibitors sector, Jairaj, said small-budget films and small-screen theatres will suffer as film banners were taken down inside the theatre complex. “Our picture collections have fallen ever since the flex ban. These banners are the only way we can give our target audience a glimpse of a particular movie.
How will people know what the product we are selling is about without an advertisement?” Jairaj wonders, adding, “We are not talking of multiplexes where the upper-middle class can learn of new releases online. This affects single-screen theatres, which cater to the middle class and lower-middle class audience.”
Film chamber members also believe small-budget films will remain unrecognised if they are not allowed to advertise. They requested the BBMP to allow banners within the theatre complex premises, as street publicity is no longer an option.
Speaking to CE, BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad, says, “Members of KFCC met me with a representation requesting us to allow film advertising through flex banners. I told them that cinema posters cannot be pasted or displayed on private and public walls. They requested earmarked places to do this within the city. We can't fix any such places for now, as the flex ban matter is still in court. The HC has to take a call on this.”
“Within the complex, I have given distributors, exhibitors permission to put up banners only made of cloth,” he adds.Jairaj counters, “We cannot do digital printing on cloth. Moreover, there are no artistses left who can make film banners on cloth. Everyone uses digital printers, which requires flex.”
‘KMC Act allows film banners’
To strengthen their appeal, Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) members cited Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, Section 134, which allows for advertising banners for entertainment purposes to be allowed within the cinema complex. However, after the High Court order against flexes, BBMP removed them. Explaining the clauses within the KMC Act, 1976, lawyer Shashank Kumar says, “If the advertisement is of their own business, that is, their own movie or product, and it is within their building or theatre premises, it is allowed. If it is a third party's product within the premises, it requires a license from BBMP.”