The veteran exhibitor said they had been served a notice in this regard by the collector, and they had replied to the notice.
Published Nov 18, 2023 | 11:36 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 18, 2023 | 11:37 AM
Tirupur Subramaniam announcing his resignation. (Supplied)
Popular theatre owner and film distributor Tirupur Subramaniam has resigned from being the President of the Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners’ Association and the president of the Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Erode, and Tiruppur districts Theatre Owners’ Association.
Tiruppur Subramaniam’s resignation comes close on the heels of the administration issuing a notice to the veteran distributor’s theatre for violating the direction to hold screenings only between 9 am and 1 am during Deepavali.
Subramaniam’s theatre is believed to have screened special shows for the Hindi film Tiger 3 (2023) at 7 am.
He has been in the film industry for over four decades.
Addressing the media on Friday, 17 November, the well-known distributor-exhibitor, said, “I have told in many interviews that I only do business in an honest and straightforward fashion. That, according to me, is 100 percent true. However, my IT team recently screened an additional show of a Hindi film.”
He also explained the reason: “They screened an additional show because they misunderstood the order. They thought that only the Tamil films had to be screened from 9 am to 1 00 am and therefore, they screened the Hindi film (Tiger 3) in six screens at 7 am.”
“They will be taking action against us and we will subject ourselves to the same. However, we did not screen the show in secret. I have not done anything wrong. The mistake was that we should have screened that film at 9 am, we screened it at 7 am. That was a mistake,” he clarified.
Taking responsibility for the incident, Tirupur Subramaniam said, “However, even if this was an inadvertent mistake by my team, I take moral responsibility. I believe that someone who is the president of an association should not commit a mistake. Therefore, I have decided to resign.”
He added, “Moreover, I too have become old. I am 72 and I wish to lead a peaceful life. It has been 42 years since I came to the cinema.”
Though Tirupur Subramaniam said he was only resigning because of wanting to spend time with his family and moral responsibility for the lapse that had occurred, he made it clear that he had been hurt by the unfair criticism that he had been subjected to.
He also made it clear that did not spend even ₹100 from any of the associations on himself. “Every Rupee I have spent is my own money.”
Pointing out that he too was human, Tirupur Subramaniam said, “Nobody can be 100 percent perfect. There would be 10 percent mistakes in me as well. We can’t be perfect like Mahatma Gandhi. But I can say assuredly that 90 percent of everything concerning me will be right and 10 percent might be wrong. But to highlight just the 10 percent that is wrong and choose to ignore the 90 percent right that I do. That is hurtful.”
When asked if he would reconsider withdrawing his resignation, Tirupur Subramaniam said there was no question of taking it back.
He thanked all the distributors, theatre associations and their members, producers and actors for their support to him all these years.
The veteran theatre owner came to the cinema in 1978 and since then, he held various positions from top to bottom in various associations.
