A Nagpuri film scene being shot at the Birsa Agriculture University. A Telegraph file picture

Ranchi, April 30: More than 30 filmmakers of Nagpuri movies decided to move court if the Bihar and Jharkhand Motion Pictures? Association (BJMPA) continues to deny them No-Objection Certificates (NOCs).

Over 20 films are awaiting for permission to be released.

BJMPA is responsible for providing NOCs for films. It has refused to provide the certificates as the films are in video format and not celluloid format.

Filmmakers say that films on celluloid format are more expensive to make.

In a final effort to get their films released, filmmakers in the capital have decided to ask chief minister Arjun Munda for help. They have given Munda until May 6.

?If Arjun Munda does not come to our rescue, we will be left without any option but to move court,? said artiste and filmmaker Srikant Deo.

The filmmakers said BJMPA should have been more clear when it came to laying down guidelines for issuing NOCs.

?If we had known from the start, we would not have made the films and would have tried out some other options,? said Deo.

In order to get around the non-issuance of NOCs, these filmmakers want to create their own association as soon as possible and start screening their films.

But this is not as easy as it sounds. The problem of where to screen their films remains.

Most halls have already closed their shutters. The only theatres left are Sujata, Meenaxi, Sandhya, Plaza and Sainik.

Out of these, Sujata only plays English and Hindi releases and the management of Plaza has announced that the hall will be demolished to make way for a multiplex ? a venue that some viewers of Nagpuri films will not be able to afford.

?Our viewers cannot afford to spend Rs 50 and above tickets of a multiplex hall,? said film producer Krishna Sarathi.

Undeterred, the filmmakers said that they would also create a mini-hall exclusively for Nagpuri films. ?It?s going to take some time. Multiplexes do not cater to the kind of audience that our films are meant for,? said Sarathi.

The films that are stranded include Dagaa, Pyar Kar Khatir, Bellura, Rijhuwar, Mai Kar Dulara, Hum Bhi to Ashique Hai and Khewaiya.

The films cannot be screened unless the BJMPA provides an NOC.

If the films are released without the NOC, the theatre would be blacklisted.

The filmmakers said that BJMPA would allow only those films that are made in the celluloid format while on the other hand the budget for such films is five times than those made in video format.

BJMPA has also provided provisional certificates to some of the films, which the filmmakers are now opposing because the certificates are valid only for a week and in some cases for a month.

?This means that the films would be screened for a limited period. The BJMPA are trying all these tricks for making money because the registration fetch them Rs10,000 per film,? added Sarathi.