Balakrishna against price hike for his films. The Andhra Pradesh assembly yesterday witnessed explosive comments made by Hindupur MLA, filmstar Balakrishna who dismissed Chiranjeevi's role in ticket rates hike during the then AP government headed by CM Jagan Mohan Reddy. This was strongly refuted by Chiranjeevi who explained the happenings during that time.
In the midst of all this, a popular distributor said that Balakrishna was against price hikes for films and he wants more people to come to theatres. Madala Ramakrishna said "Balakrishna garu argued that when Telugu films were only running in Telugu states in 50s to 90s, legendary stars like NTR, ANR, Krishna and Krishnam Raju didn't seek ticket hike and wanted more audience in theatres,"
He added "But now Telugu films have expanded to North India, South India, US and Europe which has added to our revenue, then we should actually reduce the ticket price in Telugu states but that is not happening,"
He revealed "Balakrishna also referred to OTT rights, digital rights, Hindi dubbing rights and others, which are fetching money to producers these days, "so why should we burden Telugu viewers with hiked rates,"
He added "Balakrishna was against taking 50 members to foreign locales and add production costs. "Balayya prefers to shoot with 10 or 15 crew members and save lot of money. Rather than shooting up the budget with unnecessary expenditure and then fleece gullible audience,"
MV.Krishna Rao said "Balakrishna believes that viewers are like God's who bless us with their money and we should always treat them with respect and never burden them. His career biggest hit Akhanda garnered record collections on lower ticket rates"
Krishna Rao continued "In fact, the G•O during YS Jagan regime was to permit hike if budget of the film has crossed Rs 100 crore budget without remuneration of actors, but nowadays every film is given hike and making theatres business unviable. "If Rajinikanth film ticket rate in Chennai was below 180, in Telugu states we were selling at rs 483 per head. Similarly, War 2 tickets were double of Mumbai rates in Telugu states. This is nothing but fleecing Telugu viewers who like watching films. Which is unpardonable,"