PremiumFEUOK to re-evaluate non-cooperation stand against Dulquer Salmaan and his production house on March 31
The Kerala theatre exhibitor’s organization had announced last week that they would not be screening Dulquer’s films anymore after Salute was released on an OTT platform
Last Updated: 07.27 AM, Mar 23, 2022
The Film Exhibitor’s United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK) will take a final call on their non-cooperation stand regarding Dulquer Salmaan’s movies and those by his production house Wayfarer Films at its general body meeting on March 31.
The theatre owners’ association had last week announced that they will not be screening Dulquer’s films in cinema halls anymore, after the actor had opted for an OTT release for his latest film Salute. The main grouse was that the actor’s production house had entered into a contract to release the film in theatres on January 14 and about 300 theatres were ready to screen the film. However, Salute’s theatrical release was pushed due to Omicron and the theatres owners claim that they weren’t intimated about Salute’s Sony LIV release.
A FEUOK official had told Kochi Times that the decision to not cooperate with Dulquer’s films was taken at last week’s executive committee meeting after its members had raised the concern about the actor’s production house “backtracking” on the theatre release. However, the final decision will be taken at FEUOK’s general body meeting on March 31, said the official.
Last week, a spokesperson from Wayfarer Films had told OTTplay that the reason they opted for an OTT for Salute was that they had first signed the deal with Sony LIV and decided on releasing the movie in theatres only later. The contract said the film must drop on the platform on or before March 31, and with the movie’s release being postponed in January and the staff down with COVID-19 in February, a theatrical release was unlikely. This was the reason they decided to honour their agreement with the OTT platform.
Incidentally, Dulquer was hailed by FEUOK only a few months earlier for releasing Kurup in theatres when big stars including Mohanlal, Prithviraj Sukumaran and Fahadh Faasil opted to release their movies in OTTs after the second lockdown.