Date:26/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/26/stories/2008112653810300.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

Demand for flexibility in cinema rates to encourage small films

Staff Reporter

Middlemen walking with the most gains: Narasayya
Steps to strengthen the hands of cinema hall owners sought

PHOTO: RAJU. V

AP Film Chamber Association secretary Srisaila Babu, senior citizen Katragadda Narasayya and CPI city secretary K. Subba Raju, at a round table on ’cinema rates enhancement’ in Vijayawada on Tuesday. —

VIJAYAWADA: Speakers at a round-table organised at Madhu Kala Mandapam here on Tuesday made a fervent plea to the Government to give permission to exhibitors to reduce rates for screening small budget films. They said this kind of flexibility would increase and sustain the public patronage for all kinds of films in the cinema industry.

The speakers pointed out that the Government should follow the footsteps of the US film industry, where rates would be hiked for big budget films and reduced in the case of movies made with a modest budget. It was one reason why even films made on a smaller scale were viable and successful in the US, which was eventually helping the industry to flourish, they reasoned.

Katragadda Narasayya, a senior citizen and film enthusiast, suggested that the rationalisation of rates should be done while asking the exhibitors to reduce the number of shows per film. Stating that middlemen were walking away with the most gains, Mr. Narasayya said the Government should take steps to strengthen the hands of cinema hall owners by giving them permission to collect cess.

Owners of air-conditioned cinema halls should be permitted to collect Rs. 2 per seat towards cess, while it should be Re. 1 for non-A/C category halls. Ch. Dayasankar, a member of the Vijayawada Film Society, said the increase in cinema entry rates was being applied to just top classes while leaving out the lowest class, which would not be useful for the public because of reduced number of seats in the cheapest class category.

He pointed out that there were very few seats in the cheapest class in many theatres and some cinema halls had only the first row of seats under this class. Cable TV Association member Vellanki Prasada Rao, TV and Cable TV Viewers Association secretary K. Sankara Rao and others spoke.