Multiplexes in Hyderabad jack up ticket rates in the guise of HC order

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court may have allowed 34 theatres across the state to increase ticket prices, but several other cinema halls have taken advantage of the order to jack up prices. Against the normal price of Rs 138, these theatres are collecting Rs 200 per ticket from moviegoers.

The HC had earlier permitted only 34 theatres to increase their ticket prices for six weeks – from December 20, 2019, to January 26, 2020. This came on a petition by a few theatre associations and multiplexes that had claimed that their ticket prices didn't match with the inflation and that their services were completely different.

On the increase in ticket prices by all and sundry, Vijay Gopal, the founder of Forum Against Corruption, told NewsMeter, "So the court order is applicable to those theatres and not everyone. Only 34 theatres have the permission to raise ticket prices and the rest are playing at it. This is a 3000+ crore nexus"

Prasads, Cinepolis-Shalibanda, Kukatpally, Attapur, 10 PVRs including the ones in Cineplex, Central Mall, Next Galleria malls, Sujana Forum Mall, Carnival in Ameerpet and Shameerpet are a few petitioners who have received permission for a temporary price hike.

Gopal added, “The High Court had directed the Home Ministry to form a committee and quickly come to a decision regarding the ticket prices in the state. The ministry does not want to come up with a new movie ticket price because of certain benefits that politicians get from the distributors and producers due to the current pricing. So this issue will go on until somebody pushes them to come with a new ticket pricing.”