Trying to cut costs, Bangalore movie producers have decided to steer clear of expensive singers from Mumbai. Many feel local talent will get its due, finally

The Kannada film industry more commonly known as Sandalwood, has been fighting a long drawn battle with movie releases from other states. What began as a fight over the number of screens has now evolved into a more complex war that reflects on revenue, casting and now even a film's music and playback singing.

Following an example from Mollywood, the Kerala film industry based out of Kochi, Sandalwood has tried to adapt their cost cutting techniques for Karnataka, quite unsuccessfully.

Mollywood made a general rule that applied to all Malayalam movies made within the state that forced budgets to be trimmed and expenses to be cut down on sets.

The Kannada film producer association has instead decided to help cost cutting by avoiding the use of singers and technicians from outside the state. This however, may not go down too well with Kannada audiences, who have become loyal fans of singers such as Sonu Nigam, Shreya Goshal, Kunal Ganjawala and KK.

Sent back: Play back singer Sonu Nigam feels that the Kannada film producer's decision would just result inu00a0 a creative loss