Malayalam cinema industry is making headlines again. A new controversy has broken out after Liberty Basheer, president of Film Exhibitors Federation came forward to claim that the latest flicks "Fireman" starring Mammootty and "Picket 43" starring Prithviraj are just hits in posters but not at the box office.
He also claimed that the Malayalam industry is going through a crisis, as not even a single movie has managed to create box office success in 2015. He said that this will force the association to take some serious steps.
Libert Bahseer said that most of the movies released this year did not do well at the box office. He claimed that two films "Picket 43" and "Fireman" are better among the lot, but they too could evoke only above-average reponse in theatres.
He said he cannot call them hits as makers claim it to be and these films and these movies still manage to hold screens because no other big movies are released after their release.
Meanwhile, Milan Jaleel, producer of "Fireman" said that the claims made by Liberty Basheer are false and the movie gave a profitable run for the producer.
"The Mammootty starrer had earned 1 Crore 65 Lakh producer share in Kerala and 8 Lakhs share in other states in first week alone. Everyone who watched the movie had a unanimous opinion that the movie is really good. Unfortunately, the president of the Exhibitors Associations is using his power to stop the movie from being a success than trying to help the producers who struggles to bring movies to theatres. I think his statements were inappropriate and unfortunate," said Jaleel, in the audio released by Metromatinee.
Malayalam movies faced a huge setback last year when television channels decided not to take all movies for good satellite rights. This also adversely affected the number of Malayalam movie releases this year, as theatres do not take keen interest in taking small films.
For producers, this has posed a huge threat as they are forced to make big movies with big stars.
Liberty Basheer also added that many channels are now giving satellite rights' money only after the release, and producers are going through a crisis. So, at such a juncture, it is a disappointment when someone claims successful movies as failures.
