While no big filmmaker has spoken up on the cinema ticket prices issue in Andhra Pradesh, Ram Gopal Varma called out the Jagan government for imposing curbs on ticket prices. After RGV spoke on the issue, AP Cinematography Minister Perni Nani responded to the filmmakers’ remarks and fired some questions at RGV and the industry.
RGV wrote, “Thanks a lot for answering with dignity without speaking with the vulgar terminology of many leaders. Is it possible to sell a hundred rupee ticket for a thousand rupees? That is not a question, it depends on the belief of the seller and the need of the buyer. We can buy a glass of water for Rs 5 lakh when you have no water in the desert. The market is what it is.”
“A painting that does not even cost Rs 500 as raw material is getting sold for Rs 5 crore if purchased. If value is given only to the raw material, how can the brand and the idea be valued? Quality of Life Advancement is the continuous effort to keep all the goods still and still better. Governments only need transparency as to how much transaction has taken place between the buyer and the seller, because of the tax due to them. But how it would be wrong to say how much you are selling in the open market. For example, whether you know it or not, ticket prices in Bombay and Delhi vary from Rs 75 to Rs 2200, depending on the week, the theatre, and the movie. All of this is governed only by the Oldest Economic Theory demand and supply.”
“Government intervention is when in some extreme cases, such as rice, wheat, etc., when production is high and prices are very low, or when the production is low and prices are high. Where did such an extreme situation come from now in the film industry but also in the audience? The term loot is used when it is criminally used to seize. But what the seller and buyer mutually agree to do is call a transaction. When the transaction is legal, the government share comes automatically in the form of tax.”
“Theaters are the only business entities in the world since the first theatre in the world, Nickelodeon, was set up in America on June 19, 1905, and to this day, but no one has ever set it up for public service. Motivation is the main reason for the modernity of society because every human being struggles to rise above the position he is in. The poor want to become rich, the scientist wants to invent something no one can invent. Your party MLA wants to be a minister..your chief minister wants to be a prime minister.”
“When there is no difference in your government between Pawan Kalyan’s film and Sampoornesh Babu’s film, is there any difference between you as a minister and your driver?” RGV slammed Perni Nani.
“Your intention to do for the poor may be good but for that, your government should work to make the poor rich but not make the existing rich a poor…then Andhra Pradesh is in danger of becoming the poorest state in India,” RGV added.
