Kannada movie fans are upset that the award-winning film Bharat Stores, directed by P Seshadri, has been released only in multiplexes. They reacted strongly on social networking sites.
According to them, the director and the producer have gone against the spirit of the film, which looks at the impact of foreign direct investment on retail stores, especially petty shops.
Reacting to such comments, Seshadri said, “The trend of watching cinema has changed over the years. In the past, audience had no option but to watch movies in theatres. But that has changed. Today, people can watch films anywhere and everywhere.”
Some people said Bharath Stores was against multiplexes and yet the movie was released only there.
“I really don’t understand why are people thinking that Bharat Stores is about multiplexes? Some are speaking even without watching the film,” said Seshadri, adding, “People started discussing about it only when I sent across a message on a social networking site about the film’s release.”
The director said he is glad to release the movie in multiplexes. “With Bharat Stores being an award-winning film, people thought that they will never see it in theatres. Now that we made an attempt, it is difficult to cater to people who want to see the film in a certain movie halls only,” he said.
Producer Basanth Kumar Patil had checked a few single theatres in Gandhinagar but could not go ahead, he revealed. “We were not sure whether we could recover the rent paid to the theatres to run the show. Today, single screen owners take rent as advance where as multiplexes give it on percentage basis. Just because my movie is based on the poor, I can’t be releasing it in tents. I will be glad if people comment on the movie content. I am not expecting people to throng theatres and watch Bharat Stores like they do for a commercial cinema. I am upset over the fact that people talk even without understanding the difficulties,” he said.