Ticket Price Hike: Is RRR Doing Big Damage To Tollywood?

Cinema is the most popular entertainment medium in India. The theatrical culture of India is superior to any other place in the world. There will be celebrations across the theatres whenever a big film releases in our country.

But slowly, theatrical tradition is dying in our country, and filmmakers and producers are being primary reasons for it. This opinion is being expressed by a lot of cinemagoers on social media. Referring to the latest examples of hikes in cinema ticket prices, the netizens are venting out their frustration with regards to the same.

SS Rajamouli’s directorial RRR is all set to hit the screens on March 25. Jr NTR and Ram Charan played the lead roles in it. After being in production for more than three years and getting delayed almost five times, RRR is now ready for its release. There is huge anticipation of this project across the country.

The netizens are clearly unhappy with its exorbitant ticket prices. The average single screen price in Hyderabad is Rs.235 and the multiplex price is Rs. 354. Many questions are being posed by the netizens about the same.

“Is this the way to hike prices? Are these filmmakers or vultures?” shares a movie buff who never misses out on watching the film first-day first show.

“Already, the prices have been hiked across Telangana after the pandemic happened. What is the logic behind hiking the hiked prices?” shared a netizen.

One of the netizens also opined that our filmmakers should get inspired by the makers of Marvel and DC movies. “If we consider big-ticket Hollywood releases like Marvel or DC movies, the makers of those films don’t plead governments across the world to hike the ticket rates. They make sure to release the film in such a grand way that it reaches everyone in the world. If you don’t have a budget to release films on such a huge scale, don’t produce high-budget films,” voiced out a netizen about his opinion on the hike in ticket prices.

“If one director asks for a hike today, then another director comes and asks for the same next day. This will be a process for every big-budget film. If this continues, then the audiences need to pay heavy ticket prices for every big film. Already, family audiences stopped coming to theatres due to the advent of OTT culture,” a netizen shared on social media.

In fact, the current situation clearly says that they will not enter the gates of cinema halls after looking at these hiked prices. Instead of paying 3000 bucks for a single viewing (an average cost for a middle-class family of 4-5 people, including the ticket and F&B services in multiplexes), they prefer watching it in their homes when the film premieres on OTT platforms.

It is high time for the filmmakers to come out of their comfort zone and see how people are suffering after the pandemic. Instead of providing the entertainment at affordable prices, the makers made the theatrical experience an expensive affair.

If this continues further, there is no doubt in saying that theatrical culture in India will die in a few years.