Going back years intermittently, and more pronounced over last month, there has been a multiplexes vs bollywood producers standoff, which has led to a temporary freeze of new hindi releases in multiplex screens. The argument is over how to fairly split the net collections presumably recorded at the box office for hindi films between the producers/distributors and the multiplex chains which are actually screening the films. A number of points and counterpoints have been presented. We look at some more below.

Firstly, the the kinds of films that were to be released during these weeks of the elections and IPL were not going to be high grossers anyway, usually drawing just 5-10% occupancy. And even earlier, films starring big stars like Akshay Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan have not been seeing high collections this year.

Secondly, while the multiplexes are subsidized by the government as part of larger economic policy, individual movie producers are not. The multiplexes may be able to write off some of the losses being incurred.

Thirdly, multiplexes are not just in Mumbai. They have a national presence where they are releasing Tamil, Kannada film etc as before. Furthermore even in Mumbai and northwards, they have continuing software in the form of Hollywood releases. So the Bollywood producers withdrawing their films is going to benefit the Hollywood producers and distributors releasing their English language films in India if anything. As it so happens, most of multiplex going audience is English-speaking and goes looking for upscale, high-class entertainment anyway. Watching a Hollywood movie instead of Bollywood one is not a big difference to this segment of the population.

Fourthly, the producers-distributor association is made up of largely individuals. On the other hand, the multiplexes are largely owned by big corporates, many of whom are producers and distributors themselves. For example, PVR or Reliance which owns Adlabs can and do produce and distribute their own films and release them directly on their own terms. A producer like Sajid Nadiadwala or Mahesh Bhatt or even actor-producer like Shahrukh Khan on the other hand, can't go into Gujrat or Uttar Pradesh or Madhya Pradesh or Bihar and get his own multiplexes built there without running into potential dead-end of administrative and political obstacles.

Finally, the multiplexes are the final and critical delivery point to reach high end consumers for big budget Bollywood films' recovery. Without them in the pipeline, the producers' films will just to go pirate VCDs (or youtube) quicker and the producers/distributors end up with nothing instead of the 45:55 or whatever terms they have.

On the other end of all this is the fact that a fixed 50:50 revenue share split of net collections between the multiplexes and producers/distributors proposal does seem equitable on its own merit.

However the real issue is not what the share distribution of the pie is, the real issue is what exactly the pie *is*. Many producers and distributors quote inflated collection figures in trade papers which are very different than what is actually being indicated by the multiplex collection feeds. This is not to speak of internal squabbles between the producers and distributors themselves once its time to split the presumed overflows.

So however the issue is resolved, it is imperative that a system of revenue recording that is fool-proof, transparent, reportable and auditable by representatives of all parties involved (including the government who have stake in it via the entertainment taxes collected) is put into place moving forward.