As if making
a full-length feature film was not tough enough, Tollywood filmmakers
seem to love courting controversy over the titles of their films. A
while back director Gunasekhar had complained to the Andhra Pradesh Film
Chamber of Commerce that his title Katthi was used for Kalyan Ram’s
just released film, Kalyanram Katthi.
He had registered the title in the name of producer
Danayya with the Film Chamber of Commerce and had initially refused to
give up the title when some producers had requested for the same,
contending that the title was best suited for a script that he had
prepared.
When the Chamber of Commerce permitted Kalyan Ram to use
the title, the director dropped the issue as he didn’t want to make a
big deal of it. It may be noted that Mahesh Babu’s Khaleja was also
caught in a controversy when some producers had gone to court claiming
that they had registered the title first.
The latest film in trouble is Nithyapelli Koduku, with the
tag line “Care of Jagadamba Centre.” The film’s director, Alahari, has
alleged that the Film Chamber of Commerce disrupted its release by not
giving a publicity clearance for the film. “When I first registered the
film title, they had approved it. A week later, they sent me a notice
that some people from Vizag were opposing the title,’’ the director
said. Apparently, the film’s title indirectly refers to the owner of
Jagadamba Theatre in Vizag who has reportedly married several women.
According to Alahari, though the Chamber of Commerce sent him a letter
approving the title months later, it didn’t give the publicity clearance
at the last minute. “We wanted to release the film on December 3. Now I
can’t go to the censor board without the clearance certificate,” he
complained.
However, when contacted, Film Chamber of Commerce
secretary K.C. Sekhar Babu said otherwise “We told them that the
Jagadamba theatre owners had requested that the title be changed, but we
didn’t refuse to give the publicity clearance certificate. If he wanted
to release the film earlier, he should have gone to the censor board.
The censor board does not insist on a clearance certificate first,”
Sekhar Babu observed, adding, “However, while obtaining the censor
certificate, they must produce the publicity certificate,’’ he
maintained. Asked whether the chamber would give the certificate, he
maintained that the executive committee was the decision making body and
it would take a decision. However, it is rumoured that the director is
unnecessarily creating controversy to gain publicity.
Meanwhile, Alahari has vowed to stage a protest if the film was not given the publicity clearance within a week.
