The Tamil Film Producers Council and the Tamil Film Active Producers Association have decided to indefinitely defer their proposed strike, which was scheduled to begin on September 1.
The decision followed a meeting with Tamil Nadu Information and Publicity Minister Rajmohan, who reportedly assured representatives of the producer bodies that their concerns would be brought to the attention of Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay.
According to the associations, the government is expected to facilitate discussions involving producers, distributors and theatre owners after the ongoing Assembly session, with the objective of finding a long-term solution to the issues affecting the industry.
Representatives of the producer associations met Rajmohan on August 26 and submitted a memorandum outlining their concerns. Following a review of the petition, the minister asked the Tamil Nadu Film Distributors Federation and Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association to continue with the existing arrangements for film releases.
The proposed industrial action was announced by the producer bodies on August 22. They had planned to stop the release of new Tamil films from September 1 and suspend ongoing shooting and post-production activities from the same date.
The dispute is linked to the conditions surrounding theatrical and OTT releases. Theatre owners and distributors had stated that they would screen films only if producers committed to maintaining an eight-week gap between a film’s theatrical release and its OTT premiere.
With the government now expected to bring the stakeholders together for discussions, the producer associations have chosen to put their strike plans on hold.