With the
seizure of the prints of Ravi Teja starrer Veera from the Odeon theatre at RTC X Roads, and the heavy fine imposed on the theatre, the managements of cinema halls are lamenting that they are being forced to bear the brunt for something that is not their fault.
Addressing the media, M Vijayender Reddy, President of Telangana Film Chamber, stated that the law holds the theatre managements responsible for screening uncensored films when, according to the Chamber, the producers must be held responsible for the same.
Cinema hall managers explained that producers must ideally send in their film prints well in advance so that the former can watch the movie to ascertain if the necessary cuts have been made. However, the reels reportedly usually reach the halls an hour prior to the first-day-first-show timing, which makes it impossible for the theatre's managers to watch the film themselves.
The Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) argues that an easier method exists to examine if the reels distributed are the clean or the unedited versions - comparing the length of the reel to the figure mentioned in the CBFC certificate.
Though this helps the management figure out whether or not the reel sports the censored film, it is too late for any action to be taken, as waiting for the right reels would result in losses for the theatre.
Defending the producers, Telugu Film Producers Council (TFPC) Joint Secretary Natti Kumar stated that his fraternity members might sometimes distribute uncensored films due to oversight. He maintained that such occurences are not intentional.
However, the amount of sleaze being worked into Telugu films has been a cause of concern for quite some time now. According to sources, the Tollywood editing rooms are the most littered with scissored reels as producers try to incorporate a maximum of violence and vulgarity into films.