The oldest theatre in the State, `Gaiety', is just surviving, screening third-rate sex movies and it's already curtains on `Minerva', the first air-conditioned cinema hall in the State. Near Anna Salai alone, 11 theatres closed down recently.

The Rs 300-crore dream factory of Kodambakkam which annually rolls out at least 110 films has come up with just 34 films this year. Of this, almost 30 flopped miserably. In 1998, even Kamal Hassan, a leading actor, has seen one of his worst commercial disasters since last five years.

The film industry which was adding at least Rs 110 crore to government exchequer annually is unlikely to contribute more than Rs 85 crore as entertainment taxthis year. In a State which was paying the highest amount of tax, next only to Uttar Pradesh which has nearly thrice the population as that of Tamil Nadu, the question being asked is why are most of the 2,200-odd theatres empty or half-empty for most days? And why has attendance in theatres slumped to 40 per cent for even the so-called `good movies'?

Critics might say that the Tamil film industry which feeds over 50,000 people, including artistes, directly and several lakh indirectly, is in a spin, because there no good movies coming up. But the film industry has blamed it all on the cigar-carton-sized menace in the market - the VCDs.

From villages to towns to Chennai - video compact discs (VCDs) of the latest Tamil films are available, sometimes before release, for a few hundreds. For example, Karaikudi residents were treated to latest Karthik starrer Harichandra even before the film was released in the theatres. The result: no theatres were willing to screen the film in Karaikudi.

Distributors inMadurai and Ramanathapuram claim that they lost Rs 30 to 40 lakh purchasing Kamal Hassan's latest `bomb' Kaadhala Kaadhala, because the locals had already seen the film on cable TV which has has become a common feature in entire Tamil Nadu. The audience had judged the movie before its release and the film's fate was sealed.

Cable TV operators match the filmwallahs in publicity too. In some rural areas, they go to town with posters and hand bills to inform subscribers about new films they would be screening.

Though the producers have totally stopped selling video rights locally, the films for which foreign rights have been sold are back in Burma Bazaar in the next flight and in a few hours the compact discs are available for a song in the market, which are screened by cable TV operators.

TN Government to crack down on video piracy

The Tamil Nadu government today conceded two major demands of the Tamil film industry by agreeing to crack down on video piracy and offering entertainment taxconcessions to the tune of Rs 40 crore.

Chief Minister M Karunanidhi announced a package of steps in response to a memorandum submitted by industry representatives who had earlier gathered in thousands to take out a procession in the city to highlight their demands.After an hour-long meeting with industry personalities, including leading stars like Rajnikanth and Sarath Kumar and prominent producers and directors, Karunanidhi told mediapersons that a state enforcement wing headed by an Inspector General of Police, besides district cells, would be formed to curb video piracy.

The Goondas Act would be amended to enable the authorities to detain under the preventive detention law, anyone punished twice for video piracy. The government will not give any fresh licences to video theatres nor renew existing licences.