Telugu film producers to cut production costs

Banaglore, April 21 (IANS) The Telugu Film Producers' Council (TFPC) has decided to cut down film productions costs by introducing new measures including reducing consumption of film negatives and completing a film in just 45 days.

The major factor responsible for rising production cost is said to be remuneration of big stars and top technicians.

'The production costs are going upwards for the past three years. And the remuneration of leading stars and heroines have become the major component of the production budgets,' said veteran producer-director Tammareddy Bharadwaja.

According to sources, NTR had demanded Rs.10 crore from top producer Dil Raju for 'Brindavanam' for which shooting is now in progress. Even Mahesh Babu, who had no releases for the past three years, is demanding around Rs.5 crore to Rs.7 crore for his films.

Directors like Rajamouli of 'Magadheera', V.V. Vinayak of 'Simhadri' and Puri Jagannadh of 'Pokiri' fame are charging between Rs.3-5 crore per film.

'Today, the average cost of Telugu films with a big hero has reached its peak. It costs around Rs.25 to Rs.30 crore. The remuneration of artists and technicians takes away 50 percent of the total production cost and that leaves only 50 percent for the making of the film,' said T. Prasanna Kumar, secretary of Telugu film Producers Council.

'In this situation, even if the film becomes a big blockbuster, the producer will get very little money as profit. But the chances are that he will lose his investment even if the film becomes a partial hit,' he added.

In an emergency meeting Tuesday, producers decided to introduce measures to cut production costs. Many ideas were discussed including reducing the use of negatives up to 60,000 ft and completing a film in 45 days.

Though these measures have got the approval of majority of the producers, it has been decided to further discuss it with big producers and directors.

'Most of the producers are feeling the heat of rising costs, while revenues are sliding down because of competition from cricket matches and sudden political turmoil in the state. Therefore, the producers had to design ways to cut the costs of the films,' said Bharadwaja.

He also informed that many big budget films failed to cover investment costs.

Echoing the same, Kumar said: 'The audience are refusing average products and prefer big budget entertainers. Aggressive publicity costs are also adding up to the mounting production costs. It is time to introduce cost effective measures in the Telugu film industry.'