`Kites’ flies out of Karnataka, theatres not to show film

21.05.10 : Kites' will not fly in the Garden City of Bangalore and across Karnataka. In a major dampner, the much-hyped Hindi film that stars Hrithik Roshan and Mexican actress Barbara Mori will not be released in the State on Friday.

This is because of the `carpet bombing' of Kites which was slated to be released in 46 screens in Bangalore. This violated the rule laid down by the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) which restricts the release only to 21 screens.

Kites was released across Bangalore on Thursday itself and many Kannada movies had to make a hasty exit because screens were not available. Reports also came in that the distributors were planning to release the movie in 12 more theatres.

Following this, the KFCC held an emergency meeting in Bangalore on Thursday night and decided to put a full stop to the screening of the movie.

KFCC president Basant Kumar Patil said all cinema owners in the State had been informed of the decision following the emergency meeting.

The ban comes following an attempt by the distributors to release the film with more prints than allowed. "According to KFCC rules, other language films can release only 13 prints. But Reliance Big Pictures, the distributor for the movie ('Kites'), has circulated 45 prints in southern Karnataka alone," Patil said.

The movie was slated for released in more than 90 theatres across the State on Friday.

In a press release, Patil said if distributors of Kites add more screens, cinema halls will not be able to screen films of any other language including Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu.

Letters were sent to all theatre owners in the State soon after the emergency meeting. "If the theatre owners go ahead and release 'Kites,' we will not release any films in these theatres in the future," Patil

"The film's release will be detrimental to the interest of Kannada cinema if it is allowed to be screened all over," Patil said.

All single screen and multiplexes are members of KFCC.

No representative of Reliance was present at the meeting Thursday evening. Big Pictures owned by Reliance Group is releasing the film.

Kannada film producers and film distributors of all languages who are members of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce have protested against the film as it was slated to release in more than 90 theatres, exceeding the limit of 24 theatres stipulated in the state.

Patil had earlier said that many big Hindi films starring Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan like "3 Idiots" and "My Name is Khan" have been released in fewer than 24 theatres and the distributors of these major films complied with the KFCC orders.

The issue of `reservation' of screens in Karnataka came to the fore in 2004 when Rakt was released. Kannada movies were edged out. Then came the Telugu blockbuster Stalin and Shankar Dada MBBS. The Kannada film industry then went on a strike and the Karnataka Government had to intervene.

A formula was struck wherein it was decided that non-Kannada films would get only 21 screens -- 17 in Bangalore and four outside Bangalore.