Despite knowing that some exhibitors of ‘HanuMan’ have violated the agreements and screened other movies during the Sankranthi festival instead of ‘HanuMan’, the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce is unable to impose any penalty on 10 to 12 theatres in Telangana state. The issue reportedly came up for discussion at the executive committee meeting a few days ago, but the hands of the apex body were tied up. “Chamber couldn’t impose fines on exhibitors despite receiving a complaint from distributors of ‘HanuMan’ in Nizam region but it couldn’t do much,” says a source who adds, “Actually, Competition Commission of India has restricted the trade bodies from imposing fines on their members for violations and has ruled against such impositions in the past. For instance, CCI reprimanded Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce for levying penalties on Big Cinemas in Bangalore in the past and it was forced to revoke,” he adds. In the last executive committee meeting the issue between distributors and exhibitors reportedly dominated the meeting. “Usually, agreements between distributors and exhibitors are considered sacrosanct and expected to be honored by both the parties in letter and spirit. But ten to twelve exhibitors breached the agreement,” says a source and adds, “When HanuMan distributors raised this issue in an executive committee meeting and demanded a penalty, it led to heated arguments from both sides and the chamber heads had to intervene to stem the emotions,” he adds,The 47 members from various sectors-studio, producer, distributor, and exhibitor- form an executive committee and they meet often to discuss issues on the agenda and other important issues about the four sectors.
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