The Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce seeks some kind of regulation to monitor and discourage dubbing films, mostly from Tamil, from hitting screens in large numbers.
The Producers Council recently met Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy with a request to hike tax on dubbed films and to slash rates for desi films, small budget and straight films (Telugu) lose out on dates due to many dubbed films hitting the theatres during the festival seasons and also the tax rates and production (dubbing) costs are low.
The Chamber has appointed a four-member committee to study and submit a white paper on dubbed movies and how to control them. They wanted the tax on dubbed movies to be increased to 30 per cent from 20 per cent.
D. Suresh Babu, Dil Raju, Vijayender Reddy and Natti Kumar-- all producers representing different ‘budget' segments are the members.
Till date, nearly 26 small films await release, while big banners have booked movie theatres till Sankranti; some of these theatres are controlled by production houses. "In this scenario, dubbed films of Rajini, Vijay and Suriya are eating into our revenues," Telugu producers feel.