AP: Old cinema ticket prices to be restored

The Telugu film industry may well heave a sigh of relief. The High Court of Andhra Pradesh today said that old ticket rates that prevailed before April this year will be back in force as per the desire of the cinema exhibitors in the State. The Jaganmohan Reddy government’s GO bringing down the ticket prices to historic lows has now been effectively rendered irrelevant unless the government gets its act together and challenges the verdict.

It goes without saying that ‘Pushpa’, ‘Shyam Singha Roy’ and the biggies of January (read ‘RRR’, ‘Radhe Shyam’ and ‘Bheemla Nayak’) are going to laugh their way to the banks because of the order. Exhibitors in AP have not been able to make a killing from ‘Akhanda’ despite the otherwise blockbuster status of the film in Nizam and the US.

With the old rates coming back, big-ticket movies can breathe easy for now. ‘Pushpa’, starring Allu Arjun, is the first beneficiary of this.

Meanwhile, there are reports that some Telugu film industry representatives will be calling on the AP Chief Minister later this week.