‘The actors and technicians are demanding at least ten times higher remuneration than what Malayalam cinema can afford right now and the government charging 30% of the gross as GST and additional entertainment tax. This is not a sustainable business model for the producers. A producer is getting just ₹27 Crores as a share when a film collects ₹100 Crores gross and this needs to be corrected immediately for the film industry and producers’ well-being’, says G Suresh Kumar, A film producer from the Malayalam film industry.
Suresh Kumar along with multiple members of the ‘Kerala Film Producers Association’ and ‘Film Employees Federation of Kerala’ had a meeting last week and decided to call for a complete shutdown of the industry by stopping the production, distribution and exhibition of Malayalam films completely from 01st June 2025 until a solution is identified to reduce production costs by controlling the artists and technicians remuneration. The members from the multiple film bodies also decided to protest in front of the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram in a few weeks seeking the intervention from state government to help the film industry and producers from the current model of taxation(i.e. GST and Entertainment Tax).
According to Suresh Kumar, the Malayalam film industry producers incurred a loss of ₹600 – ₹700 Crores in the year 2024 with only 24 successful films out of 200 odd films that were released during the year. Also, the film industry is said to have incurred about ₹100 Crores losses in January 2025 alone with just one successful film out of the 28 films that were released in January 2025.
While a majority of the members from multiple film bodies welcomed the decision to shut down the industry from 01st June, a group of producers says the decision to stop production, distribution and exhibition may prove counter-productive. Antony, the producer of the most awaited Malayalam film, L2: Empuraan, says that calling for a strike is not the right thing to do. It would impact the livelihood of multiple families that depend on the film industry.
We may have to wait and see if the bigwigs from the Malayalam film industry steps in and work towards a plan to resolve the ongoing crisis that film producers from the industry are facing.
Tags Malayalam Fim Industry Mollywood Shutdown
