Sudden Raids, Theaters Closing Down In AP

The situation in Andhra Pradesh is getting worse day by day. Officials are raiding theaters on one name or the other and are seizing theaters. The other day, six theaters in Vizianagaram are seized in the name of no Fire Safety Certificates Renewals.In Krishna district alone, fifteen theaters were seized today citing no Form-B license.

In districts like Uttarandhra, East, and Krishna, local Revenue officials are raiding the theaters particularly those in the Panchayats, and are enforcing the Maximum Thirty Rupees Ticket Rates. Theater owners are voluntarily shutting down their operations as such rates will not even recover the power charges of the show.

Some of the theaters which are at the far-end of a town are technically A/B Centers. But on papers, they may be on Panchayat limits. Such theaters are forced to sell at a maximum of 30 Rupees per ticket. Even if the theater is a 4K Dolby Atmos theater, nothing changes.

“Many theaters are as such. They are built far from the center of the towns due to costly land rates. The government is using this loophole,” a theater owner told us. Buzz in the streets is that Government is angry about theater owners trying to corner the government in courts and is seeking revenge.

Pushpa which is paying well in Nizam is already staring to be a loss venture in Andhra Pradesh thanks to these unreasonable rates. The situation only gets further worse for Sankranthi biggies – RRR and Radhe Shyam. The worst part is that the entire industry is clueless about how to solve this issue.

“This is a bigger crisis than Corona,” says a producer on anonymity. But then, if things do not get better quickly, the theater system will collapse and that will endanger the entire industry’s future.