AP movie ticket issue: Chiranjeevi, Prabhas, Mahesh Babu meet Jagan; new order likely by Feb end

Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh government is likely to issue a new order on movie ticket prices by February-end. This comes after top Tollywood actors and filmmakers met Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on 10 February.

A nine-member delegation of Telugu actors and filmmakers, including Chiranjeevi, Prabhas, Mahesh Babu, Ali, SS Rajamouli, Koratala Siva, Posani Krishna Murali, R. Narayana Murthy, and producer Niranjan Reddy, met Jagan at the Tadepalli camp office on Thursday. They held a discussion with the CM and minister for I&PR, cinematography Perni Nani and submitted a representation with 17 issues related to the Telugu film industry.After the talks, Chiranjeevi told the media, "We had positive talks with the CM. He said he will hold a discussion with the committee and take a decision on the new GO. Similar to the development of the film industry in Telangana, he will make all efforts to develop the industry in Andhra Pradesh."

The actor added, "The CM hopes to develop Visakhapatnam as a hub for the film industry and set up infrastructure. We will soon send proposals to the government on the requirements of the film industry."

Director Rajamouli said the Chief Minister understood the problems of the producers and directors. "For the last six months, we have been confused on how to take the situation forward and hopefully, we will get good news soon," he said.

It may be noted that the Andhra Pradesh government had issued an order (GO 35) to reduce movie ticket prices in the state. This had caused some concern among the Telugu film industry. Many big-budget movies had postponed their release dates, waiting for a positive response from the government. Theatre owners had also moved the court regarding the issue. The latter has directed the government to form a committee to decide the ticket prices.

Speaking at the meet, Chief Minister said that the government intends to bring a better policy that benefits both big and small films, and a committee was also constituted in this regard. He said that the government tried to provide good pricing for the tickets that justifies all kinds of cinemas and added that certain big-budget films should be treated separately considering the use of high-end technology, innovations, and expenditure. For such films with over Rs 100 crore budget excluding the remuneration of hero, heroine, and director, there should be a policy to notify special price for one week.

As far as the ticket prices are concerned, CM said that the government proposed to bring the same rates for every film that benefits producers and the government as well. There should be a balance in the situation of having to compete with OTTs and thus intended to bring reasonable rates so that the film industry can thrive without burdening the audience. Also, the Chief Minister emphasized promoting film shootings in Andhra Pradesh, for which the film industry agreed to shoot at least 20 percent of the film in the State.