Producers Guild of India hits back at INOX; says, “Disappointing to see statements calling for retributive measures”

Yesterday, Amazon Prime Video officially announced that Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana starrer ‘Gulabo Sitabo’ will be available for streaming from June 12. Apart from that Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer ‘Ghoomketu’ will also have a digital release on May 22 on ZEE5.  But, theatre chain INOX was not happy with this decision of the producers as they expressed their ‘extreme disappointment’ in an official statement. To this, the Producers Guild of India wrote back saying that it is very disappointing to see abrasive and unconstructive messaging.

The Producers Guild shared the official statement on Twitter that read, “We are in unprecedented times, facing one of the greatest public health and economic emergencies of our lifetimes. This is a time for the entire film industry to come together with empathy and support for the difficult predicament that each of our constituents finds themselves in – from producers, distributors, exhibitors, daily wage earners and technicians, to the thousands of people whose lives and livelihoods are in some way dependent on our industry.”

The statement further read, “Hence it is disappointing to see abrasive and unconstructive messaging from some of our colleagues in the exhibition sector. The production sector (just like the exhibition sector) is suffering hundreds of crores of losses daily.”

Pooja Bhatt shared the statement and wrote, “Question-Do theatres run movies or do movies run theatres?Content is king.The platform is secondary.People’s safety MUST take priority over profitability. If we truly care for our audience,we need to take the movies to them.Not lure them to theatres until we can guarantee safety.”

Question-Do theatres run movies or do movies run theatres?Content is king.The platform is secondary.People’s safety MUST take priority over profitability. If we truly care for our audience,we need to take the movies to them.Not lure them to theatres until we can guarantee safety. https://t.co/YjPVEAfrO9

— Pooja Bhatt (@PoojaB1972) May 15, 2020

INOX had said that they are extremely disappointed by the decision of the producers to have digital release of their movies.

The statement read, “INOX would like to express extreme displeasure and disappointment on an announcement made by a production house today, to release their movie directly on an OTT platform by skipping the theatrical window run. The decision of the production house to deviate from the globally prevalent content windowing practice is alarming and disconcerting.” Further, it stated, “Cinemas and content creators have always been into mutually beneficial partnerships, where one’s action provided fillip to another’s revenues. In these troubled times, it is disturbing to see one of the partners not interested in continuing the mutually beneficial relationship especially when the need of the hour is to stand shoulder to shoulder with each other and bring the film industry back to its vibrant best.”

IMPORTANT… #INOX reacts to film producers / Studios releasing films on #OTT platforms, bypassing theatrical release… OFFICIAL STATEMENT… pic.twitter.com/J5lqHrS4ud

— taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) May 14, 2020

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Also Read: INOX bashes producers for taking the OTT route after ‘Ghoomketu’, ‘Gulabo Sitabo’, ‘Shakuntala Devi’ head for digital release