Producers Guild puts industry before individuals

Instead of trying to pacify individuals, the Producers Guild has laid out a road map to streamline the film industry and set things right in the days to come.

"Any day, the welfare of the film industry is more important than individuals, so the Guild has resolved to collectively move forward with a clear-cut vision," says Damodar Prasad of Producers Guild, who says their intent to get all the producers on single platform is falling in place.

"Of course, producers will have different viewpoints and arguments do happen. Our objective to create a podium for all active producers is getting into shape," he adds.

Apart from resolving disputes between producers over release dates, now they are aiming to avoid poster war on box office figures which triggered lot of animosity between producers and fans of respective stars recently.

"Lot of factors led to the poster war which was not in the hands of producers concerned. To avoid such issues, we are planning to set up a panel to receive the box office figures of star movies from producers and then our members would cross check it with distributors and release it to be public.

Kind of certification, but it will take few more months to kick off," informs Damodar Prasad, who, however, says producers are benefitting with cut in ad spend through the guild. "We are saving lot of money for filmmakers," he adds.

With likes of Allu Arvind, Suresh Babu, Dil Raju, Bogavalli Prasad, Sravanthi Ravikishore, Radhakrishna and other leading producers, the guild is new go-to forum for producer woes.

Has it gained respect and recognition from rival body like Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce, "Not only our chamber, other bodies and government agencies have to work with Guild in future because most of the regular producers are members in it," says Vijayender Reddy, former president of Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce, and adds, "Actually, producers who are in the thick of things understand day-to-day problems, unlike the other body. Eventually, it attracted more members and gained prominence in the industry within no time."

Elaborating further, Vijender Reddy wants producers who are making movies to helm the affairs instead of in-active producers. "There are hundreds of producers who made films decades ago and have lost connect with reality. These out-of- work producers get active during trade body elections and disappear thereafter.

For example, a regular producer like Ramanaidu garu would get 25 votes, while a producer, who is a non-entity would get 1,000 votes, such manipulations dented the legitimacy of Telugu Film Producers Council. Undoubtedly, the Guild has risen to the occasion," Reddy concludes.