CHENNAI: Theatre owners in Tamil Nadu are pushing for flexi-pricing of tickets. That means, if you want to watch movies of superstars like Rajinikanth or Kamal Haasan you may have to pay more for the ticket. The theatre owners were pressing the government for allowing them to increase the ticket price after the GST-related stand-off.
Industry sources said movies of Ajit and Vijay may also soon come at a premium, but film buffs will get to watch other movies for less than what they spend now. Theatre owners and film producers mooted the idea during discussions with the state government for sorting out the 'local body tax' proposed by the Tamil Nadu government in the wake of the implementation of GST, a source said.
Theatres downed their shutters for four days and resumed the shows only after the state government decided to keep the local body tax issue in abeyance and permitted theatres to add GST to the existing ticket prices. It also formed a committee to arrive at a mutually beneficial solution after detailed deliberations.
As per the latest proposal, flexi-pricing of tickets could be in the range of Rs 50 - Rs 160 for theatres in the Greater Chennai region, while for the rest of Tamil Nadu, the maximum price could be capped at Rs 140 per ticket. Additionally, patrons have to pay GST of 18% for tickets priced below Rs 100 and 28% for those priced higher. In Tamil Nadu, theatres have not been permitted to increase ticket prices for nearly 15 years, while cost of infrastructure and maintenance of facilities went up. Higher caps apply only for the big stars. For most other movies, prices will be less than the existing ones.
