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MADURAI: Tamil films woven around life in Madurai, with violence as the main theme, may have raked in the moolah at the box office, but have unwittingly put an obstacle in the march of the Information Technology industry into the temple city.With the silver screen showing Madurai as a perennial conflict zone with street fights—some recent examples being Subramaniyapuram, Madurai Sambavam and Adukalam—many IT companies are reluctant to open shop in the tier-II city. This despite 25 per cent of software professionals in IT majors in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad being natives of the Madurai region.“This (negative impact of films) came to light during a brainstorming session involving top honchos from different sectors, including representatives from IT companies, last year,” said R Sivarajah, president, Software Industries Development Association of South Tamil Nadu.“When films show Madurai in poor light, it gives a wrong perception about the city,” he told Express. Industry representatives said software professionals, given a choice of cities to work in, pick Madurai last. Absence of shopping malls and pub culture are also major turn-offs for young professionals. Insiders say sensitive political developments here in the past five years has also put the city in bad light.In fact, only three firms occupy the Ilandhaikulam IT Park here, while a second IT Park at Vadapalanji is yet to take off. “Occupancy rate at the IT Park here is only 30 per cent, while in Tiruchy it’s 70 to 80 per cent,” an industry source said.
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