MUMBAI: The on-going talks between the national level exhibitors and Telugu film distributors on the revenue share terms issue of Telugu films and the payment dues started on 23 March and was concluded today (24 March), with a ruling to meet again on 30 April to look into the matter.

In the meantime, Telugu films will continue to play in multiplex screens in Andhra Pradesh. Eros Entertainment’s Aa Dekhen Zara, for which the revenue share terms are still in negotiation between Eros and exhibitors, has been resolved for the Nizam circuit and hence the movie will play there.

Telugu Film Distributor Association president Sunil Narang tells Businessofcinema.com, "The Telugu distributors have agreed to keep the matter on hold till 30 April, but if it is not resolved till then, as per our terms, then we will ban multiplexes from 1 May onwards for sure."

Narang further adds, "Next week the distributors will start getting their dues back from the multiplexes." However, Narang declined to comment at what juncture the discussion ended today and the revenue terms at which the movies will be played in future.

Until now, the Telugu film revenue share between distributor and multiplexes was 50:50, 42½:57½ and 37½:62½ for the first three weeks. But the distributors were insisting on 60:40, 55:45 and 50:50 respectively on the ground that Telugu movies perform better than Hindi movies. However, there have been negotiations and the two parties are ready to compromise in order to arrive at a suitable decision.

A source close to the development says, "There have been negotiations on the revenue share terms between both the parties and they have agreed to look into the matter. However, for sometime now the Telugu film distributors have put the matter on the backburner and it will be taken up again after the issues with Hindi film distributors in resolved, as that is a bigger issue for the multiplex cinemas now."