THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The National Film Development Corporation’s (NFDC) lone office in Kerala is headed for a shutdown, owing to the alleged apathy of its top brass. The NFDC unit, located in Kerala State Film Development Corporation’s (KSFDC) Chitranjali studio complex in Thiruvananthapuram, was put on notice for relocation in March.
However, over three months on, the NFDC head office in Mumbai has neither responded to the proposal nor renewed the agreement with KSFDC.
KSFDC, which is currently undertaking a `150-crore KIIFB-funded major renovation project of the studio complex, had written to NFDC requesting it to relocate the facility temporarily to another building on the studio premises.
“Our renovation work has been stalled due to uncertainty over relocation. There is speculation that the NFDC head office’s reluctance to renew the agreement with us is part of the eventual shutdown of its Kerala facility,” said a source in KSFDC. Besides a regional office in Chennai, the NFDC’s only other office in south India is in Kerala. NFDC has produced Malayalam films such as Farook A Rahiman’s Kaliyachan TV Chandran’s Mangamma, Venu’s Parinamam, VR Gopinath’s Poothiruvathira Raavil and CP Padmakumar’s ‘Sammohanam’. Sources said scripts of around 10 Malayalam films are awaiting funding approval from the NFDC headquarters for years.
Besides liaising with the headquarters for arranging production funds for films from the state, the Kerala branch also handles work related to pensions for indigent cine artists.
“Around 70 cine artists who have fallen on bad days rely on NFDC’s Kerala branch office for pension-related matters,” said a source. Shutting down the Kerala office would mean these artists will have to travel to the Chennai regional office for annual mustering and other purposes.
Last year, the Centre merged four film bodies, including the Films Division and the Directorate of Film Festivals, into NFDC. It also gave NFDC the mandate of production of documentaries and short films, organisation of film festivals and preservation of films with a budgetary allocation of Rs 1,304 crore for all film-related activities.
When contacted, NFDC General Manager D Ramakrishan ruled out reports that the Kerala facility would be shut down. “We are examining the proposal and will renew the agreement (with KSFDC) soon,” he said. In 2012, there were attempts to shift the NFDC branch office to another state. But the move was averted after the intervention by Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor and then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.