Tollywood for long has been batting for industry status for more than three decades but invain. In the midst of all this, Vijayender Reddy, president of the Telangana Controllers and Exhibitors Association speaking to scribes, shared his thoughts.
He said “The request was first made during the tenure of NTR as Chief Minister in 1983 and was later followed up with the late Union Minister Sushma Swaraj. Unfortunately, it has not yielded any result,”
He added "Currently, theatres are paying around Rs 9 per unit on a commercial basis. If we are granted industry status, the tariff would come down to nearly Rs 4 per unit. Recognition would also enable us to avail bank loans, subsidies, and other benefits extended to industries,”
He said “We are hoping for a GST reduction in this budget and are keeping our fingers crossed,” He shared “Hundreds of theatres in districts across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are suffering huge losses. For tickets below Rs 100, we collect only 5 per cent GST from viewers, but we are forced to pay 18 per cent GST to distributors,”
Citing an example he said “If a film collects Rs 1 lakh, we collect only Rs 5,000 as GST from the audience. But when we pay distributors Rs 1,18,000, we end up losing around Rs 13,000 per week. This is extremely unfortunate.”
He pointed out . “We are requesting both the Central and state governments to introduce a uniform GST rate for all tickets instead of different slabs,”
A prominent distributor said “Audience turnout has become highly erratic. One day we see housefull shows, and on many other days there are not even six viewers per show, forcing us to cancel screenings,”