Chennai, May 17: Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay and submitted a memorandum to him with six demands for the Tamil film industry, including to launch a state-owned OTT platform.
Haasan’s party, the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM), an ally of the DMK, did not contest the April, 23, 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
In a post on ‘X’, the MNM leader explained in detail the list of demands he had submitted to the CM during his meeting on late Saturday.
“I request the Tamil Nadu government to launch a state-owned OTT platform where Tamil audiences could access Tamil cinema, independent film and documentaries at affordable and subsidised rates,” he said.
In his second demand, he said, in view of rising production, distribution, and theatre operating costs, “I request the abolition of local body entertainment tax levied at 4 per cent. This will greatly help the Tamil film industry”.
Urging the government to form a strong anti-piracy team, Hassan said piracy destroys the hard work and investment of thousands of artists, technicians, producers. “I request the creation of a dedicated anti piracy enforcement team within the Tamil Nadu police cyber crime department to protect Tamil cinema with powers to enforce real time takedowns of pirated content”.
He also requested the TVK government to permit theatres across the state to screen five shows per day for all films. “This will improve theatre revenues and support the recovery of the film exhibition sector,” he added.
“To protect theatres, I request the government to regulate and make an eight-week OTT release window mandatory for all the films released in Tamil Nadu, enabling theatre owners and distributors to sustain themselves”, he said and urged the state to introduce film production incentive scheme, which will restore Tamil Nadu as country’s leading film production hub while also generating employment and promoting tourism across the state. (PTI)
