Date:30/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/30/stories/2008013054640800.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Matinee show in theatres scrapped for Tiranga run

Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA: The much-hyped ‘Tiranga Run’ on February 3 will cost a matinee show for all cinema exhibitors in the city on a revenue-generating Sunday.

The exhibitors at a meeting convened on Tuesday by Joint Collector S. Suresh Kumar, who is their licensing authority in the city, were asked to cancel the screening of matinee show in all the theatres and reschedule the time of commencement of the evening show to pave the way for the success of the run.

“We’re not forcing anyone, but people of different sections of the society are voluntarily coming forward. I suggest to the exhibitors to cancel the screening of a show, preferably matinee, on February 3,” said MP and organising committee chairman Lagadapati Rajagopal at the meeting.

‘Decorate cinema halls’

The MP initially mooted the idea of cancellation of both matinee and evening shows, but Vijayawada Film Exhibitors Association president M. Venkateswara Rao made clear that the exhibitors could stop the screening of only matinee show.

Mr. Rajagopal also felt that it would be better if the cinema halls were decorated with the three colours of the national flag and illuminated grandly to mark the occasion.

He wanted the exhibitors to voluntarily screen short films on the run in the midst of regular shows, which was accepted by Mr. Venkateswara Rao.

“We’re not paying anything for publicity. All TV channels have come forward to telecast the run live and advertise it on their channels free of cost,” he said, adding that as many as 10 corporate companies, including Satyam, GMR Group and Lanco and others , had come forward to sponsor the event by spending Rs. 20 lakhs each.