Raghu Kunche Blasts Industry Exploitation: Small Producers Getting Raw Deal

Music director and actor Raghu Kunche, who has won six Nandi Awards across multiple categories including music composition and has been active since his debut with 'Bumper Offer' in 2009, has made explosive comments about the financial exploitation plaguing small-budget filmmakers in Telugu cinema.

In a scathing critique that's bound to send shockwaves through the industry, Kunche highlighted the predatory mindset that's become endemic. "The attitude that we should earn a rupee on someone else's rupee has grown in the industry," he said, pointing to what he sees as a fundamentally broken ecosystem where risk and reward are completely misaligned.

The math that Kunche breaks down is stark and sobering. A small producer invests ₹1-2 crores of his own money, handles post-production, manages promotions, and bears every conceivable risk. But when it comes to theatrical release, distributors and exhibitors demand 60% of profits simply for providing screens. This leaves the actual risk-taker, the producer who funded everything, with a measly 40-50% share.

"How is it reasonable that someone who provides just theatres asks for 60% share when the producer has invested the entire budget?" Kunche questioned, articulating the frustration of countless small filmmakers who've found themselves trapped in this lopsided arrangement.

What makes Kunche's comments particularly significant is the timing. The Telugu industry has been witnessing growing tensions between producers and exhibitors, with theatre owners demanding percentage shares of box office collections, and exhibitors arguing that the current rental system leaves them with little profit as most collections come in the first week.

But Kunche's perspective cuts through the exhibitors' arguments with brutal clarity. Good content drives audiences to theatres, he argues, so why should content creators be penalized while venue providers reap disproportionate benefits? "If this exploitative trend continues, small films and small producers will disappear in the future," he warned.

Kunche also turned his attention to the remix culture that's become increasingly expensive. Producers now spend ₹15-20 lakhs to remix classic hits: amounts that often exceeded the original film's entire budget. Yet the original creators, the music directors and lyricists who actually composed these timeless songs, receive nothing. Despite legal provisions requiring 15% royalty for creators, Kunche noted this remains largely unimplemented.

This isn't just industry gossip: it's a veteran calling out systemic problems that threaten the very foundation of content creation. The recent crisis in Telugu cinema has already put producers at risk, with declining non-theatrical deals meaning massive losses if films don't perform theatrically.

When someone of Raghu Kunche's stature, a multi-faceted talent who understands the industry from multiple angles, speaks this candidly, the establishment should listen. The question is: will they?