Yesterday's last minute setback to Kamal Haasan's multi-crore spectacle, Uttama Villain, has once again brought back the serious discussion on the burning issue of film distribution. With most big budget films featuring top stars and well established banners falling prey to the distribution woes just a day before and sometimes even on the release day, the film trade is at a crossroads with hundreds of crores at stake and no possible solution in the near future.

Most films, including those of top stars' and even low budget films, run into severe financial crunch more towards their releases. The main reason behind this terrible state is nothing but the overshoot of film budgets coupled with some horrendous planning by the inexperienced makers. Usually, a top star's film needs anywhere around 45-65 crores depending upon the subject and production values.

In most cases, producers are usually left with no penny in pockets while the shooting is midway and here enter the dreaded financiers. Producers take money from the top playing financiers like Eros International in Uttama Villain's case, and even small time financiers at huge interests and complete the films on agreements of giving out areas for distribution during the film's release.

If the film becomes a hit, then the damages will be minimal. But if the film tumbles at the box-office, producers face severe losses and these losses are again transferred to their next films, leading to yet another possible fiasco. In this scenario, the only way out for producers seem to be the cost control and that means a check on the stars' remunerations as well. But do the stars even care about their producers' woes?

This is not the case with experienced makers like Allu Arvind, Suresh Babu and Dil Raju, who are well established and know the trade tactics by heart and they have their own distribution wings, apart from production. Such seasoned players, even though gamble huge money on stars, suffer minor losses thanks to some effective cost control and detailed planning and execution.

Yesterday, apart from Uttama Villain, even Ganga's release was halted by the distributors for similar reasons. Even though last minute frantic meetings by all financial parties end up on a positive note in most cases, a huge loss will be done by then and in Uttama Villain's case, the film has lost about 8 to 10 crores due to cancellation of shows in Telugu and Tamil.

In the past too, numerous films were stuck in financial woes until the last minute and managed to see the light after painstaking efforts by all parties. On the other hand, there are hundreds of films still lying in the cans, thereby causing huge losses to the tune of several hundreds of crores to the industry.

In this scenario, only cost cutting and reasonable pricing of the film during distributors' agreements can act as a saving grace.