Film exhibitors reject offer to offset 'Kuselan' losses

Chennai, Aug 23 (IANS) Film exhibitors in Tamil Nadu Saturday rejected an offer from 'Kuselan' distributor Pyramid Saimira and superstar Rajnikant to offset estimated losses of Rs.70 million.

'The money offered to compensate our losses to the extent of Rs.70 million or 35 percent of our losses due to minimum guarantee sums paid by us is not acceptable and we will continue to boycott future movies on offer from the producers and the main distributors of 'Kuselan' till they compensate us to the extent of 70 percent of our losses,' Tamil Nadu Film Exhibitors' Association general secretary A. Panneerselvan said.

'While we have sent a request on behalf of our body to the Tamil Film Producers' Council and Rajnikant to explore other ways to end the impasse, a unanimous decision has been taken to rule out buying films on the minimum guarantee (MG) basis in future completely,' Panneerselvan added.

Meanwhile, a representative of the movie's distributors from Karnataka, M. Mahendra, told reporters that his colleagues had lost over Rs.16 million and was hopeful of meeting the icon to explore ways of offsetting the loss.

Saimira and producers Kavithalaya and Seven Arts International have denied the charges.

They said in separate press statements that 'Kuselan' could not be written off within 20 days of its release. It would eventually cover its costs, they said.

Rajnikant was not available for comment.