Kochi: The crisis in the Malayalam film industry persists, as the issues between the Kerala Film Producers Association (KFPA) and the Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation remain unresolved.

According to the present arrangement, producers and distributors are eligible for 60 percent of the profit from a film and 40 percent go to theatre owners. The Exhibitors Federation has made a demand to make this 50-50.

Culture Minister AK Balan’s proposal to depute a commission to study the issue has fallen on deaf years and has been strongly opposed by the Federation. Meanwhile, Film Producers Association President Suresh Kumar, Secretary Renjith and Distributors Association President Siyad Koker took the stand that they won’t be able to release movies unless the Exhibitors Federation complied with the majority decision.

Four Malayalam, one Tamil and one Hindi film are slated for release during Xmas. The Malayalam movies awaiting release are the much hyped Mohanlal starrer ‘Munthirivallikal Thallirkkumbol’, Dulquer movie ‘Jomonte Suvisheshangal’, Prithviraj movie ‘Ezra’ and Jayasurya movie ‘Fukri’.

The Tamil and Hindi movies are ‘Singham 3’ and Amir Khan’s ‘Dhangal’.

“All this while the producer’s share in the first week was 60 percent and in the second and third weeks 55 and 50 percent respectively. All of a sudden the exhibitors have pushed forward a demand that’s not at all feasible,” says Koker. “This is in total disregard of the cost incurred by the producer during the production of a movie,” he says.

The Malayalam film industry had 120 releases this year, out of which 20 to 23 were super hits. “This is also proof that no loss was incurred by the exhibitors this year,” informs Siyad. “All this while the industry thrived on a policy of harmony; things have changed now.”