Kannada movie business dismayed by coronavirus twist

At any given time, 400 to 500 people are at work on Kannada film productions, and they now stare at the prospect of hungry days. K S Ravindranath, general secretary of the Karnataka Film Workers, Artistes, Technicians Federation, says the workers depend on daily wages for their livelihood. Most know no other trade to fall back on.

The government has not cried halt to film shoots but many filmmakers have voluntarily stopped shooting. Some units plan to use the shutdown for post-production. Big production houses DH spoke to are modifying their plans.

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Prajwal starrer ‘Arjun Gowda’ has run into a roadblock. Produced under the Ramu Productions banner, the big-budget film had a schedule coming up in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Lucky Shankar, director, says he had obtained permission to shoot at the airport and a jail in Singapore. “This has now been cancelled,” he says.

The team contemplated changing the script and going elsewhere, but given the global travel restrictions, they have little choice but to wait.

Santosh Anandaram, director of Puneeth Rajkumar starrer ‘Yuvaratna’, had to cancel a song shoot in Slovenia. That was the only part left to shoot, so he is not too worried. The film, with a cast of 35 well-known artistes, is done otherwise. “We will do post-production for the completed part and resume shooting later,” he says.

April prospects

Shooting for another big film, ‘Roberrt,’ is complete. Director Tarun Sudhir says he had to cancel a song shoot in Spain. “We didn’t want to take any chances and so shot the song in Kutch, Gujarat. The post-production work is on and we will release the film on April 9.

He expects outdoor promotions to be affected, but is taking comfort in the potential of online promotions. “It will be good to digitally promote the film because most people are home,” says Sudhir.

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Actor, producer and distributor V Balaji says films like ‘Shivarjun’, released last Friday, will lose a lot of money. ”Everything they spent on publicity has gone waste,” he says. New films will come out next week and people prefer to watch new films to those a week old, he explains.

Balaji is also worried about rescheduling shoots. “Most senior artistes give 10 day-slots. Producers will find it difficult to get their dates again. They will have to wait for a few months,” he says.

Rs 100 cr weekly loss

With the mall and theatre shutdown beginning Saturday, the weekly loss in Karnataka is in the vicinity of Rs 100 crore, industry insiders say.

“Of this, the Kannada film industry alone contributes Rs 15 crore,” says D K Ramakrishna (Praveen) president of the Kannada Film Producers Association.

Had big releases been lined up, the losses would have been higher. “The Kannada film industry would have incurred a loss of at least Rs 40 crore in that case,” he explains.

Most units have put off their shoots, which means those who earn daily wages will be hit hard.

But it is not just daily-payment artistes who are impacted. Directors, art directors, cameramen and other high-profile professionals will also remain idle during the shutdown, says D R Jairaj, president of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce.