Film Director Om Raut Says, Art And Cinema Should Be Kept Away From Tariff, After On US President’s Recent Announcement
Om Raut film director expressed his concerns over US President Donald Trump’s recent announcement to impose a 100 per cent tariff on films that will be produced outside the USA. However, the ticket rates for Hindi cinema are close to as those of Hollywood films and that South Indian films were expensive. He also stated that Indian films were not shown in all the theatres or screens in the USA.
He was of the opinion that art and cinema should be kept away from the tariffs. He says if the tariff is increased, then the rate of tickets will increase, it would affect the collection. Films like RRR, which had the most collections abroad, and as it is our films are not shown in all centres, many film lovers have to drive to big cities like New York or Los Angeles, where the Indian films are popular. Travelling itself is a lot and then they have to pay a lot more to go and watch a film with a higher tariff. People from our country who are residing in the USA who are our main audience, will have to pay a lot more than the existing ticket fare which is close to USD 10 and 11. In some cities it is even 15 USD. Especially for the Telugu films the tickets are sold at US$ 20 to 25.
Om Raut voices concern over U.S. tariff hike on foreign films
Raut says in such a scenario if the prices of the tickets are increased, the effect will automatically be on the footfall. Many times audience loves to watch a film a second or third time which may not happen and going all the way to watch a film itself will be thought over twice. Hence, the people who watch Indian films will eventually reduce which is not good.
Om Raut applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to highlight India’s creativity and artistic strength on WAVES 2025, the global platform for the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit. He further expressed that art and cinemas bring the whole world together. The efforts of WAVES and the vision behind it were the collective efforts.
When we say Make in India, that is the new Create in India which is Indian culture and the world should come together beside the Indian cultural movies get a boost to work together. Thus, have a cultural exchange between the two countries.
On the other hand, the OTT platforms will definitely carry the films going forward. If the ticket rate is high at the cinema theatres, people are going to opt to watch on OTT whenever it's released. The subscription being the same whether you watch an Indian Film or an American film, the rate is not going to be affected so one doesn’t understand the stand taken to increase the tariff for film made outside USA.
Another concern over the tariff increase on the sale of tickets for centres and cinemas in USA is that piracy may increase again which can be harmful and have a negative impact. Therefor,e keeping the pros and cons, Om felt the American government should look into their decision in a different way. That Art and Cinema should be treated like a cultural exchange and should be kept away from the tariff.
US President Donald Trump has given a directive to the Department of Commerce and the US Trade Representative to immediately bring to effect the 100 per cent tariff on all movies coming into the country and are produced outside their nation. Reason being this will draw the American filmmakers and studios and become and incentive as he states , Movie industry in America is dying and he wants to revive it and other countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw filmmakers away from United States of America.