All is not well in Kannada film industry

All is not well at the Kannada film industry after the controversy between Golden girl Ramya and producer A Ganesh broke out last week. Their fight has now taken a new twist when everyone was thinking that it ended with the compromise between producers and actors. Now it seems to be not a matter of fight between a single actress and producer, but it is said to have become a big issue between Kannada Film Producers Assocaition (KFPA) and Kannada Cine Artistes Association (KCAA).

The KFCC held a meeting between Ramya and A Ganesh, but both of them were present there with the support of KFPA and KCAA on the Saturday afternoon. Producer Munirathna took the initiative and resolved the dispute between the producer and the actress. The row seemed to have ended after Ganesh agreed to return the credit of Rs. 3.7 that he had taken at the time of shooting of the film Dhandam Dhashagunam.

BUt, the KCAA held a meeting on Saturday evening and it was attended by Ambareesh, Sudeep, Tara, Ramya and some other leading stars of Sandalwood. The Association looked into the row between Ramya and Ganesh and came to the conclusion that Ganesh had committed mistake by not responding to Ramya's calls for six months after taking loan from her. It was decided that the producer should tender his apology to the actress and the KFCC should ban him from producing films in future.

Following the KCAA's meeting, all the Kannada producers also gathered at the KFCC to show their support to Ganesh. Another reason behind this development was that Ramya had made some insulting remarks against a few producers like Rajendra Singh Babu. After the meeting on Sunday evening, Ganesh spoke to the media and announced that he would not tender his apology to Ramya. Instead he would sit dharana in front of KFCC demanding to take action against the indiscipline of Ramya.

In an interview in Mysore on Monday, Rebel star Ambareesh criticised the KFCC President, Basanth Kumar Patil for saying that he is not the supreme power. He said, "Nobody is Supreme power in Film industry. Basanth Kumar Patil is the President of KFCC, but whatever he says can't be rule. He should remember who saved him when all the Kannada Film Producer had waged a war against him. Whole film industry is a family and a decision should be accepted by all the members of the family."

Later, Basanth Kumar Patil, who was in Hubli on Monday, responded to his statement and said, "Ambareesh has mistaken my statement. I have never told that I am the supreme power, but I said the decision of the KFCC is final. There were more than hundred producers gathered at the meeting in KFCC and they took a joint decision. As a President, I had to announce it. That's all. Anyway, Ambi is a good man. I would sit with him and resolve the problem. This is actually not a big issue. This is really small matter, which can be sorted out by sitting together."

However, both the associations are now busy making remarks and counter remarks against each other. The ego of both has become serious threat to the future of Kannada film industry. There is a dire need of third party to enter the scene and clear the air between producers and actors. Will it be done soon?