The powerful Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners' Association (TTOA), has threatened to blacklist Sun Pictures, as they have defaulted on refund of deposits to the tune of Rs 2.5Crore paid for their films.


TTOA general secretary R Paneerselvam has said : " We are giving Sun Pictures a weeks' time to refund the deposits, otherwise we will notgive screening time to films whose satellite rights have been given to Sun TV."

The association pointed out that they had paid huge MG's and deposits for Sun Pictures Enthiran, Vettaikaran, Sura and Maapillai which were not commercially viable.

A few months back the association was able to get half of their dues from Sun Pictures who now wants the matter closed.

But with the change of government and Sun group coming under the scanner, TTOA believes that this is the best time to turn the screws on Sun Pictures.


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The Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners’ Association has decided not to extend cooperation to films produced or distributed by Sun Pictures, protesting the latter’s delay in repaying deposit funds amounting to Rs 2.5 crore for screening films produced by them including Enthiran, Maapillai, Vettaikaaran and Suraa.

“We have been able to collect only some money from Sun Pictures. Initially they agreed to settle the remaining Rs 2.5 crore but now we are not getting a favourable response from them,” Mr R. Paneerselvam, general secretary of the association said on Wednesday.

Mr Panneerselvam explained that the deposit fund had nothing to do with the success or failure of a film, and it was mandatory for producers to repay the deposit fund to the theatres.

The association also announced that cooperation would also not be extended to films for which Sun Network had acquired satellite rights.

Ruling out political bias in their decision against Sun Pictures, Mr Paneerselvam said that though the association had decided to meet chief minister J. Jayalalithaa and request her to revise theatre fares, the problem with Sun Pictures would not be taken up with her. “It is purely an internal issue,” he said.

Earlier the association had also passed a resolution during a meeting to form a committee of all film associations to approach the state government on reducing the entertainment tax. It was also decided to request the state government to permit theatres to run five or six shows a day “within the time limit stipulated by the government.”

A resolution was also passed demanding that the state government should permit the theatres to be rented out for weddings, exhibitions and public meetings, whenever films were not being screened.