'Kites' to be screened in 24 screens

The spat between the distributors of ‘Kites’ and KFCC has now been resolved amicably, with the parties arriving at an amicable settlement. Speaking to reporters, Basanth Kumar Patil, KFCC said the distributors on Saturday had given a written clarification that they will not be going against the KFCC norms. “They have written to us saying that they will not go against our policy for now or in the near future,” he said.

Mentioning that the distributors have promised to abide by the rules and the issue is over now, he said: “They came to us with a request to give them more theatres, we did so by giving them three more theatres.” He said that more than one screens of the multiplexes are being considered as one theatre by the distributors, but each screen should be considered as one theatre.

Policy framework

Emphasising the need for a written policy, Patil said the KFCC will also formulate one such policy for the non-Kannada films along with a uniform policy for entire State to have one distributor for whole State. “ We are inviting delegates from Film Federation of India, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh to formulate the policy for distributors. The rules mentioning dos and don’ts will be framed within 60 days,” he said.

The KFCC has banned issue of any prints to screening of the films to Cauvery theatre for a period of four weeks from May 22. Patil said the KFCC ban is due to screening of ‘Kites’ violating the KFCC norms. The theatre was screening it even after the Chambers directed the exhibitors to return the print, he said.

KFCC also chose the occasion to announce that it will launch a war against pirated films in the State. The Chamber officials informed that the anti-piracy movement is likely to begin by next week.