The situation in the Telugu states is very concerning at the moment regarding the film industry. As it is known, AP & Telangana have the biggest number of movie lovers in the film industry. It has become a norm for many to watch a film in theatres every weekend. Every family has a movie maniac and even a lot of families go to the movies together every week. It is a common routine for people to watch a film in theatres, have food at a restaurant and return home during the weekends.
A lot of youngsters barge into the theatres to watch movies on the very first day of their release. They are the ones who help in registering huge collections for star hero films all the time. But the pandemic forced the theatres to shut down for months and a lot of people got used to the OTT platforms where you get quality content for a lesser prize.
After the reopening of theatres, the filmmakers did not think of attracting people towards theatres but they focused on getting back their investments as quickly as they can. They got permission from the Telangana government quite easily. After a lot of effort, the AP government too agreed for the increase in ticket prices. The audience sympathized with huge projects like ‘RRR’ and ‘KGF – 2’ which led to the makers ending up in huge profits. But the producers kept on increasing the ticket rates for regular projects too which became too much of a burden for cinema lovers. The effect of this can be seen over the past few months where the number of footfalls in theatres dropped quite drastically.
Films of star heroes like Chiranjeevi and Mahesh Babu used to run with houseful boards throughout the weekend but it is not the situation now as many shows are not getting completely filled during the first week. While people are trying to explain their unhappiness on social media platforms, the film industry is in no mood to hear them. But with the drastic dip in footfalls, the producers are reportedly thinking about reworking their strategy once again.
Sources say that they are planning to restrict the hike in ticket rates for the initial three days and cut away the extra rates in multiplexes too. Let us wait and see if and when these changes take place.