Actor Dulquer Salmaan’s announcement on releasing his latest film Salute on an OTT platform was met with both bouquets and brickbats by the film fraternity. Though the actor had released a film that he had produced directly, on OTT in 2020, Salute was the first in which he starred as the lead and also produced. His fans were excited, but bodies like Film Exhibitor’s United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK) weren’t impressed, and were quick to announce on March 15 that they will be ‘banning’ his films from theatres.

It’s been a few days since the ban was reported, and now we hear that FEUOK is planning to take its final decision on the same in their general body meeting, which will be held in Kochi on March 31. 

FEUOK secretary, Sumesh Joseph tells us, “We have not made the final decision on this yet. The first announcement on the ban was based on the reactions we had in our executive body meeting. Salute was supposed to be released in theatres on January 14. Posters and cut-outs were placed in theatres, and some of them even sold online tickets for the movie. However, the producers later decided to change the release date due to Omicron. After that, all of a sudden, we began noticing hoardings announcing its release on an OTT platform. That’s how we came to know about it. The production house didn’t even hold a discussion on this with us.”

Apparently, the members felt that Dulquer’s production house should have discussed the situation with them. “We could have tried to understand their side of the story,” says Sumesh, adding, “That’s when we felt action should be taken against this move. We decided not to cooperate with him, and the first announcement from our side was an instant reaction as a result of it.”

FEUOK members are not cooperating with Dulquer’s films at the moment, says Sumesh. “Some of them are supposed to release next month, but nobody from our group has taken an advance or entered into an agreement with his production house. FEUOK’s executive body has 22 members, and its total strength is 280 members. As we have a general body meeting coming up on March 31, we have kept the final decision pending till then,” he explains.

Asked to comment on this development, the spokesperson of Dulquer’s production house tells us, “As of now, we haven’t received any official communication regarding these developments. Once we get it, we will make decisions accordingly.”