Exclusive! FEUOK president: Will take action against Mohanlal too if he continues to give his films to OTTs

Kerala theatre exhibitors’ organisation, Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK), had announced on Tuesday that they would not be co-operating with Dulquer Salmaan or his production house Wayfarer Films, after the latter had “backtracked” on a contract to release Salute in theatres.

The Rosshan Andrrews directorial, which was set to hit theatres on January 14, had been postponed due to the Omicron threat early this year and the makers recently confirmed that the movie will be releasing directly on Sony LIV on March 18.

FEUOK president K Vijayakumar told us the reason for their stand against Dulquer was that he didn’t honour the contract with the theatre owners. However, an official from Wayfarer Films confirmed to us that Salute’s OTT deal was signed first, and that they had decided to release it in theatres only later.

“As per the streaming service’s contract, Salute had to hit their platform on or before March 31 and the latest date for the movie’s theatrical release was February 14,” said the production house’s spokesperson. “It didn’t seem possible to release the movie at that time because the majority of our staff were down with COVID-19. We also had to honour the agreement with the OTT platform.”

FEUOK, however, still persists with their stance, this despite Wayfarer Films releasing both Kurup and Upacharapoorvam Gunda Jayan in theatres in the past five months. “If stars think they can survive with just OTTs, then let them choose that route,” said Vijayakumar.

Incidentally, majority of the films that actors such as Mohanlal, Fahadh Faasil and Prithviraj Sukumaran had done over the past two years too had gone for a straight OTT release. Why didn’t FEUOK take this stand against them? “As far as we are concerned, we don’t differentiate between Mohanlal or any other actor. If Mohanlal too continues to give his films to OTTs, there will be action against him too. This will apply to all actors and production houses supporting direct-to-OTT releases and let this be a warning,” said the FEUOK president. “Also, don’t consider this as a ban; it’s a defence against actors opting for OTT releases especially during a time when theatre owners are battling for survival.”

Despite FEUOK’s stance, several Malayalam films including Manju Warrier and Biju Menon’s Lalitham Sundaram, Mammootty and Parvathy Thiruvothu’s Puzhu and Mohanlal and Jeethu Joseph’s 12th Man are set for OTT releases in the coming weeks.

Also read: Exclusive! Dulquer Salmaan’s Wayfarer Films responds to FEUOK’s stand, says Salute’s OTT deal was signed first