Thanjavur's Ranee Paradise theatre not to screen Sarkar, cites ‘distributor pressure’

Distributors have increased the minimum guarantee amount, which is supposed to be paid by the theatres to around Rs 40 lakh. This amount is really huge and unrecoverable by any legal means.

Published: 06th November 2018 12:51 AM |

By Navein Darshan

Express News Service

CHENNAI : Vijay’s long-awaited political thriller, Sarkar, may be getting released on Diwali to packed theatres, but Ranee Paradise, a Thanjavur theatre, won’t be one of them, after declaring that they will not be screening the film due to pressure from the local distributor to sell the tickets for the first few days for a price higher than two hundred rupees.

The theatre’s spokesperson also added on Twitter that it wants to screen good films in an ethical manner and that “actor Vijay should practise what he preaches”. The theatre’s owner Santhosh said more when we reached out to him: “The distributors of the film, La Cinemas, has the rights in Trichy and Thanjavur, after purchasing it for a huge sum of Rs 9 crore.



They have increased the minimum guarantee amount, which is supposed to be paid by the theatres to around Rs 40 lakh. This amount is really huge and unrecoverable by any legal means. We hadn’t paid anywhere close to this amount even for big films like Mersal and Endhiran. The distributors have been pressurising the theatre owners of our region to sell the tickets for a higher price in black, to recover this amount.”

He goes on to allege that Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (VMI) is behind the scam. “The theatre owners who don’t want to get their hands dirty have been asked to hand over tickets to VMI’s district leader, Vijay Saravanan, who would supposedly sell the tickets on their behalf. For instance, the local theatres, Jupiter and Shanthi, and GV Complex have sold roughly twelve thousand tickets through VMI for prices upto `600 per ticket,” Santhosh alleges. “Though they had put up housefull boards, these tickets were sold through VIM coupons in front of the theatre’s gates.”

Santhosh says it’s disheartening to imagine an actor who preaches so much about justice has turned a blind eye to this issue. “Stars like Vijay have a strong family audience base, but due to the enormous ticket price, they are actually afraid to come to theatres and the first day tickets in some theatres sometimes go unbooked. To be fair, I am not sure if Vijay is aware of this, but if he doesn’t regulate such malpractices, it will be a huge injustice.”

Ma Vetri Vel, his father, and the producer of the film, Arputha Theevu, says all his efforts to register an official complaint or bring the issue to SA Chandrasekar’s notice have been in vain. “I’ve been a part of Tamil cinema for 40 years, but in recent years, our industry is heading in a wrong direction. When I filed a complaint to Trichy Distributor Association’s Secretary against the high prices, he didn’t even take a step to send a verification team to the theatres, and despite being a good friend of mine, SA Chandrasekar hasn’t done anything about the issue.”

When we contacted SA Chandrasekar about this, he denied knowledge about such practices, and refused to comment on the issue.Meanwhile, Rakesh, the owner of Vettri Theatres in Chennai, states that the situation is not statewide and it might be a local problem in the Southern district zones. “We haven’t faced any pressure from the distributors asking us to sell tickets at an illegal price. According to law, multiplexes can charge a maximum price of two hundred rupees per ticket; so we’ve fixed that as the price for the first few days. We did the same for Kaala, and Mersal. The ticket prices will go back to our usual rates from Monday.”

Tamil Nadu: Divorced tailor ends life on Diwali over unfinished stitching orders

In order to support her family, Padmini took up stitching and within no time became famous for work in her locality.

Published: 07th November 2018 04:00 PM |

For representational purposes

By Express News Service

TIRUPUR: Upset over her inability to finish the stitching orders for Deepavali, a 41-year-old woman in Parpanna Nagar ended her life on Tuesday. The deceased identified as Padmini is a native of Musiri in Tiruchy district. Separated from her husband five years ago, Padmini had been living with her mother and two children - Thamizharisi and Lipinsagar.

In order to support her family, Padmini took up stitching and within no time became famous for work in her locality. Soon the number of orders which she was receiving doubled, helping her earn a goodwill among her neighbours.

During the festive season, Padmini was getting an excessive number of orders. her customers kept insisting her to take up more orders despite her refusal to take up any more stitching works.

According to the cops, Padmini had begun stitching the clothes a week ago so as to wrap up the orders quickly. Though she managed to stitch a maximum number of clothes, some of them took a backseat. The unfinished clothes reportedly prompted her to take this extreme step. Padmini allegedly consumed malachite and succumbed within a few hours on Tuesday morning.

She was declared brought dead in Tirupur Government Hospital. The police have booked a case and handed over her body to the relatives after conducting an autopsy.

Rush! Get your debit, credit cards replaced by December 31; Here's why
The RBI has ordered the banks to provide its existing, as well as new customers with the new EMV debit and credit cards. The old cards will be valid only till December 31, 2018.

Published: 08th November 2018 05:51 PM 

A photo of Debit and credit cards. (File Photo | Abraham Richard M)

By Sindhu Chandrasekaran

Online Desk

You must have been receiving repeated messages from your banks reminding you to upgrade your old debit and credit cards, which you most probably must have ignored, assuming it to be spam. Here's news for you then. Yes, your old cards (if they are not chip based) will be valid only till December 31. You need to replace your current cards with new ones if you have not done it already.

The Reserve Bank Of India (RBI) has ordered the banks to provide its existing, as well as new customers with the new EMV (Europay, Mastercard, Visa) cards. The RBI has decided to do so in order to protect your money from online predators.

Online banking fraud cases investigations have revealed that debit and credit card piracy has been a major issue. To curb this, the RBI has come out with the new chip-based EMV cards, which will help protect your money from the online predators. This directive is applicable to all the domestic, as well as international cards. The cards need to be replaced even if their expiry date happens to be after December 31, 2018.


According to RBI, As of June, there are over 39 million active credit cards and 944 million debit cards in the country.

Why EMV cards are better than stripe-only cards?

The existing debit and credit cards are magnetic stripe-only cards. The black magnetic strip behind your cards is called the magstripe. The strip is made of small magnets in which your account information is stored. When the card is swiped in the machine, the machine will process your account information and the transaction will take place.

The EMV cards, on the other hand, have a chip embedded on the card which contains all the account information in an encrypted format. When the card is used in the machine, it asks for the PIN, and only then the transaction will be completed. The chip-based card will not be read unless you enter the PIN, thus making it difficult for the fraudsters to access customer information. Some banks, offer these cards without a PIN. Instead, they use your signature for authentication. In order to rip information off EMV cards, the fraudster will have to access the physical chip circuit and draw your bank information from there. According to experts, this is next to impossible.

Why is EMV more secure?

The magnetic stripe cards are magnetised, as mentioned above, those magnets will store your account information. The main problem with the magstripe is that the data remains static, making it easy for a fraudster to capture it, if the card is used at a place where a cloning device if installed. Once the fraudster skims your card, he can easily create a fake or cloned card with your details and use it for purchases. Whereas an EMV card helps prevent frauds as the account information stored in it is dynamic, it keeps changing constantly, making it extremely difficult to extract information.

How to identify a magstripe debit/credit card?

If your card has only a black strip in the back and no gold coloured chip located on the face of your card at the center-left, then it is a magstripe. You need to get that replaced with the new EMV card.

How to apply for the new cards?

The replacement of existing debit and credit cards with the new EMV chip-based cards is free of cost. You can visit your bank with your passbook. You will have to fill a form requesting for a replacement card. Once you submit it, you will get your new chip-based card. Or, if you do not have time to you can also apply online.

Former Joint Director of Health held

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

SALEM, NOVEMBER 09, 2018 00:00 IST

The scan centre run by her did not maintain mandatory records and registers

A former Joint Director of health services T. Chandra running a private hospital in Mettur town was taken into custody by the Mettur police on Thursday on the charge of not maintaining the mandatory records and registers of the scan centre functioning in the hospital.

She was held under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994.

Illegal practice

Health department sources said that the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMRHC) received complaints that the scan centre functioning in the private hospital run by Dr. Chandra in Mettur Dam area was indulging in the illegal practice of revealing the gender of foetus.

Surprise check

A team from the DMRHC, Chennai, comprising Natarajan, senior radiologist of Government Headquarters Hospital, Cuddalore, M. Kamalakannan Superintendent, and Thomas Prabhakaran, officer, both attached to the PCPNDT division of the DMRCH, Chennai, along with V. Sathya, Joint Director of Health Services, Salem and Suganthi, RMO, Government Headquarters Hospital, Mettur, conducted surprise check in the hospital and the scan centre.

Initially, they sent a pregnant woman to find out, whether she was revealing the gender of the foetus in violation of the PCPNDT Act.

The sources said that Dr. Chandra, however, got knowledge of the trap and did not reveal the gender of the foetus to the woman.

The special team, later entered the scan centre and conducted thorough check and found that the centre did not have the mandatory records and registers.

The team seized all the records and other registers.

Dr. Sathya told The Hindu that after holding inquiry, Dr. Chandra was handed over to the Mettur Police, who arrested her.

Hospital sealed

The officials sealed the hospital and the scan centre, late evening, sources added.

It may be recalled that only recently, the DMRHC team arrested a doctor and sealed his hospital and the scan centre in Edappadi town.

Rajinikanth condemns protests against Sarkar

CHENNAI, NOVEMBER 09, 2018 00:00 IST

Actor Rajinikanth on Thursday night put out a tweet saying he condemned the various protests against Sarkar . The film had got clearance from the Censor Board and was already running in theatres. So, it was not right to protest against it, tear banners, ask for deletion of scenes or stop its screening, he said.

Nurses wanted..toi 09.11.2018

Protests against Sabarimala order ‘unjustifiable,’ says HC

Kochi:09.11.2018

The Kerala high court on Thursday termed “unjustifiable” agitations launched by various groups against the Supreme Court verdict permitting entry of women of all age groups into the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala.

Justice Sunil Thomas agreed with the state government’s contention that the protests and the violence that occurred recently at the hill shrine and its key entry points were against the apex court’s directives. “Agitations are unjustifiable,” the court said while dismissing a bail application filed by Govind Madhusoodan of Thrippunithura, who was arrested in connection with clashes with police at Nilackal, near Pamba, when the temple doors were opened for monthly puja last month.

“Agitations caused serious hardships to the devotees. If bail is granted in such cases, that may lead to repetition of similar incidents,” the court said. He was arrested for allegedly blocking vehicles at Nilackal and attempting to assault women devotees. Girls below 10 years and women above 50 have frequently prayed at the Lord Ayyappa temple in the past. However, the entry of women of all age groups has become a sensitive issue after the September 28 SC verdict.

Several journalists were attacked by devotees when the temple was opened for six days on October 17 for the first time after the SC order. Attempts by around a dozen women, including activists and journalists in the 10-50 age group, to script history came to a standstill as protests by devotees forced them to retreat.

On November 6, around 200 devotees tried to prevent a woman pilgrim from entering the hilltop shrine, suspecting her to be of menstrual age, and allegedly attacked a cameraman of a Malayalam television news channel. AGENCIES

TDB seeks explanation from head priest

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala’s apex temple body has sought an explanation from Sabarimala head priest Kandararu Rajeevaru over the revelation by the BJP state chief that he had consulted him before threatening the closure of the hill shrine if women in the menstrual age group entered it. The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages the Lord Ayyappa temple, however, made it clear Thursday that the procedure was just a formality as the ‘tantri’ had rejected the saffron party's claim. Devaswom Commissioner N Vasu recently sent a notice to Rajeevaru, seeking an explanation from him after the BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai’s claim had triggered a widespread controversy in the state.

“The TDB has full faith in the tantri. He has already rejected in public the BJP chief’s claim and explained his stand. We believe and respect his words,” TDB president A Padmakumar told PTI.