In the name of big budget the theater owners are looting from the public charging huge prices for the cinema tickets. But when they screen low budget movies they are not reducing the rates. They are selling snack and cool drinks by force on the tickets.
The Karntaka government has come up with legislation to put to a cap on the ticket rates in multiplexes. The same should be followed in Telugu states also.
The cap of ₹200 on ticket price and mandatory screening of Kannada and regional films in multiplexes, two promises made in the budget, will come into effect in the next two days, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said.
The Baahubali distributors have also sought permission from the Telugu state governments to increase the ticket prices, saying that Baahubali 2 is a high budget film. They approached the court after the governments did not concede to their demand and managed to get a special permission.
The theatres increased the ticket prices by at least 30% — Rs 70 ticket will now cost Rs 100, Rs 90 ticket at Rs 150 and Rs 200 ticket at Rs 300 in several movie halls.
“Adding to this, some big multiplexes in the city have also introduced combo prices – they are collecting snacks and cold drink prices also along with the ticket. This is atrocious, a film buff, complained.
“There has also been a large scale black-marketing of Baahubali 2 tickets, ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 per ticket for the first-day show,” he alleged.
So who knows the future Rs 1000 crore film Mahabharata might cost Rs 1000 per one ticket. There is every need for the Government to put a cap on the ticket prices of the multiplexes, so that the common cine viewer is saved and not exploited.
The centre must bring in a rule or the states must do it. The first day Baahubali minted Rs 100 crore with 5 shows and also jacked up ticket prices.
U.Srinivas
Editor
