BENGALURU: Politician and film producer, HD Kumaraswamy, who made a comeback with his son Nikhil Kumar’s film Jaguar, expressed shock at the way Kannada cinema and its producers are treated. He was a producer and distributor, before getting into active politics.
At the press meet held on Saturday, he said, “There seems to be two or three distributors who have monoloplised the theatres in Karnataka and our producers are at their mercy.”
He also criticised the Producers’ Association and Film Chamber. “I can sail through, but imagine the small-time producers who take a plunge into cinema without any background. We pay `50,000 to the Producers’ Association to become a member and `50,000 to the Chamber to register a banner. Kananda industry comes out with 150 movies a year, which definitely means big money goes to the Film Chamber and Producers’ Association. What happens to this money and how are they protecting the producers,” he asked. The producer plans to revive his distribution business. “My priority is to see Kananda films on more screens,” he said. “Instead Kannada producers are getting scared when other language films releases here. This should end,” he says.