Red tape chokes Kerala film industry

FINAL ACT? 66 leading directors have quit Malayalam Cine Technicians Association Federation.

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New Delhi: After bagging eight awards at the recently announced 54th National Awards, Malayalam cinema might have reaffirmed it's position of being amongst the best in the country.

But all is not fine with Kerala's talented film industry. With 26 leading directors resigning from the Malayalam Cine Technicians Association Federation, better known as MACTA, trade unionism and petty rivalry seem to be plaguing the industry.

Trouble started after Dileep, a leading actor refused to act in filmmaker Thulasidas' new venture after having taken an advance for an earlier project which did not materialise.

Though MACTA decided to ban Dileep from signing any new films, soon divisions appeared in the federation over the issue.

“MACTA cannot be broken just because a few directors resign. The real issue is not with Dileep but a few of the directors want to make MACTA their monopoly. We have seen bigger crisis in malayalam cinema, so this is nothing,” says General Secretary, MACTA, Vinayan.

The breakaway faction is likely to come up with its own faction which might be called Kerala Chalachira Thozhilali Sangam.

“We stand for cinema and we want to continue this industry. So we thought about a new federation and it will become success,” says director and scriptwriter Ranji Paniker.

While Association of Malayalam Movie Artists, which boasts of members such as Mohanlal and Mamootty, supports the new federation, the Indian Film Employees Confederation (IFEC) and the Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) - which supplies technicians - back MACTA.

They now refuse to let their technicians work for films made by the rebel directors, a crisis which is likely to hit the film industry really hard.

“We are not worried about the technicians because as soon as we form the new union all these technicians will join us. We had no intentions to break MACTA but Vinayan's actions were responsible for this. Now there is no going back. We are launching our new union very soon,” says Director, MACTA rebel faction, Sibi Malayil.

While the state keeps producing award winning films year after year, petty rivalry and infighting might not only take away some of the sheen of its achievements, but also kill Malayalam cinema in the long run.