Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi continued his stream of sops for the cinema industry in the State, announcing on Wednesday the slashing of theatre admission rates “so that the common man can have easy access to entertainment.” Under the revised tariff, which comes into force from January 1, 2007, even the most upmarket airconditioned multiplexes in cities cannot charge more than Rs 50 a ticket. An official release said the Chief Minister had fixed a minimum ticket rate of Rs 10 and a maximum of Rs 50 for airconditioned theatres in the cities following representations from movie producers and distributors. The corresponding rates would be Rs 7 and Rs 30 for non-airconditioned theatres. 
In municipal areas, the lowest ticket in an airconditioned theatre will now not cost more than Rs 5 and the highest will be Rs 40, while the non-AC halls will charge a minimum of Rs 4 and a maximum of Rs 30. The minimum ticket in an AC hall in a town panchayat will be Rs 5 and the maximum Rs 25, while the corresponding rates in non-AC theatres would be Rs 4 and Rs 20, the official release said. It said the minimum and maximum rates in village panchayats would be Rs 5 and Rs 15 for AC theatres and Rs 4 and Rs 10 in the case of non-AC halls. The Chief Minister has decided not to permit theatres to increase the price of tickets for the first two weeks after the release of a new movie, it added.
Mr Karunanidhi took the decision to fix the new cinema ticket rates following representations from the Tamil Nadu Film Producers’ Council, the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce, Chennai Corporation Film Theatre Owners’ Association and the Distributors’ Association, according to the release.
The government statement came immediately after a delegation from the film industry called on the Chief Minister and presented him a copy of their resolution of demands adopted at a joint session recently. “We thanked the chief minister for the many concessions and the great help he has already given to the film industry, such as the firm action against video piracy, entertainment tax exemption for movies with Tamil names and reduction of rates for outdoor shooting. We also made an appeal for reducing the cost of theatre entry tickets,” producers’ guild president Rama Narayanan told reporters after meeting the chief minister. The slashing of admission rates is bound to hit the upmarket city multiplexes hard. “We have been jolted by this sudden announcement. We will have to consult other theatre owners and decide on our next move,” said a spokesperson for a popular Chennai multiplex.
Interestingly, the new admission rates could hit the big producers engaging mega-stars in multi-crore productions — such as Rajnikanth’s Sivaji, now under production. If the theatre collections dip, it might be difficult for the producer to meet the hefty fee for such superstars, argue some industry figures.
The theatres in smaller cities like Salem and Tirunelveli, now charging a maximum of around Rs 40 for AC viewing, might not resort to hiking the rate to Rs 50 just because the chief minister has allowed it. “With DVDs flooding the market, we have to adopt all kinds of methods to attract families to movie halls, such as the latest sound systems and good airconditioning, all at a reasonable price. Hiking the ticket cost would scare people off theatres and we can’t afford that,” said a theatre owner in a semi-urban centre.
While Mr Karunanidhi has long been associated with the film industry, his grandson Udayanidhi is now getting into movie production.
No comments:
Post a Comment