'Loan taken for Pulimurugan has not been repaid yet'

Former DGP Tomin J. Thachankary has revealed that despite Pulimurugan being touted as a 100-crore club film, its debts remain unsettled. Thachankary, who was the Managing Director of KFC at the time, disclosed that the actual financial situation differed significantly from the figures presented by the film’s producer.

Thachankary's words:

"I have close friendships with many prominent actors and producers here. When I speak on such issues, I wish not to hurt their feelings. Many producers are not financially strong. Currently, there are about four or five people financing films in Kerala. When I was the MD of Kerala Financial Corporation, I had provided funding for films. For films, including Pulimurugan, I lent money at a 7-8% interest rate. However, private financiers charge interest rates of 24%.

A person coming to produce a film with a Rs 10 crore budget might have only Rs 1 crore in his hand. The rest is collected through interest and OTT platforms. What stars need to understand is that the emergence of AI will greatly affect them in the future.

Everyone says that Pulimurugan was a huge hit. However, the loan taken from KFC for the film has still not been repaid. When I asked the producer about it, he revealed that the situation was not as it was presented. The figures he showed at the time were different from what we saw when we approached him later."