Alphonse Puthren says theatre owners are cause of misery for writers like him

Filmmaker Alphonse Puthren, who recently hit the headlines by disclosing about his deteriorating health, has now come up with a scathing criticism against theatre owners. While replying to a comment on his Instagram page, Alphonse held that theatre owners were indeed the cause of misery for several writers like him.

Recently, Alphonse posted a picture with the caption ‘Flashbacks are true for me’, which showed him sitting with Tamil filmmaker Karthik Subbaraj and actor Bobby Simha, etc. Several of the comments that followed the post, however, pertained to inquiries about his health condition. The comment against theatre owners came as a reply to a query posted by one of the followers, who asked Alphonse whether he would not do theatre-based movies anymore.

Attributing his deteriorating health to theatre owners, Alphonse wrote; “I am yet to decide whether it should be for the theatres or not. Aren’t these theatre owners responsible for opening up the theatre for the reviewers and facilitating the review of a movie? Why should I work hard for those people? Have any theatre owners ever promoted my movie? They were the ones who insisted on the date, Onam (for my film's release). Every film has to be released as per their wish,” said the ‘Premam’ director.

“A writer is thousand times bigger. Even though you identify me as a director... there is a small writer who sits in a room and writes for all the technicians to work and make the film. I should get proper compensation for my tears and so should the writers, whom the theatre owners, allowed to destroy. I am not 'superman' who jumps and does films. I have health issues to be rectified and sorted, which are pending because of the havoc those idiots created.”

Earlier, Alphonse has come up with a similar response in connection with his last released movie 'Gold', stating that what the audience saw was not his 'Gold'. This was stated in reply to a request by a follower to release the deleted scenes of Premam. “I’ve deleted those scenes as they did not suit the character of George that I created. If George does not suit the screenplay, Malar too won't. Please do not ask me this ever again. I respect my screenplay,” he noted.

“The Gold that you watched is not my Gold. It is my logo put by myself in a Prithviraj and Listin Venture for Covid times. And I couldn't shoot the song that Kaithapram sir wrote, which was sung by Vijay Yesudas and Swetha Mohan. I loved the song and had asked all the artists in my film to keep two days' dates for the song shoot. It didn't happen. Since I have chronic pancreatitis and was on medication, I could only write the script, direct, colour, and edit it. So, forget Gold for now,” he added.

Earlier last month, Alphonse also sprung a surprise by declaring that he was quitting film-making due to self-diagnosed autism and would confine himself to doing short films, music videos, and OTT content.