Tamil Film Producers' Bharathiraja asks industry members paid over 10 lakh to take 30% cut

The President of Tamil Film Active Producers Association - veteran director Bharathiraja on Monday, October 19 - took to Twitter to send out an open letter for all the A-list actors and technicians of the Tamil film fraternity. In his letter, Bharathiraja has urged all the members to accept a 30% pay cut in order to allow film producers to restart the projects that had been halted owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. In his tweet, he appealed to those who get a salary more than 10 lakh to help others in this time of need.

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Bharathiraja’s open letter

An Appeal to All Actors & Technicians who are getting a salary more than Rs.10 lacs to reduce 30% in their payment due to this pandemic impact and help the Producers to release their films.

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In the letter shared by him, he requests everyone to take responsibility in this precarious situation. Citing films that were under production amid the nationwide shutdown, he claims that producers are having difficulty in managing their projects. Bharathiraja made an attempt to explain it to his fellow acquaintances of the industry using statistics. He wrote,

In this situation, it is the responsibility of all actors and technicians to come forward and help the producers, whose films are under production and are stuck due to this lockdown. The producers can manage to come out of this trying condition and release their films smoothly, only if their total investment in films is reduced by at least 40 to 50%. Only then, even if their films do not fetch big revenues, they can come out without much loss.

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The letter also articulates how Telugu and Malayalam film industries are following the same process for gaining efficiency. His entreaty only include films that were ‘under production’. His further states,

We are making this request only for the films which were under production and are stuck due to Covid-19 and not for new films, which you are signing and commencing, for which you and the producers may decide on appropriate remuneration. For the films, which were stuck for over 6 months due to this pandemic, we are making this request 

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