Chennai

A picture of a movie ticket from Tirupur Subramaniam-owned Sri Sakthi Cinemas was widely circulated on WhatsApp a few days ago.

A separate receipt of Rs 10 was attached with a Rs 120 ticket. When contacted, a reliable source from the told DT Next, “The ticket was recently purchased at Sri Sakthi Cinemas owned by Tirupur Subramaniam, the head of Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners’ Association.

“None of us knows why we have been levied extra Rs 10. He owns the maximum number of screens in Tamil Nadu especially in Tirupur and Coimbatore region. Imagine the money he must be minting if he charges Rs 10 per ticket. This is the person, who has been lashing out at actors for demanding remuneration based on their market value.

“Theatre owners in Tamil Nadu under Subramaniam’s tenure owe a huge money to producers. A lot of producers haven’t received the theatrical collection sum for several big films.”

When contacted, Subramaniam, told us, “We have a special counter in the theatre for purchasing tickets in a hassle-free manner. We usually block tickets for customer to walk in and buy tickets a couple of hours before a film so that they don’t have to pay internet handling fees between Rs 30 and Rs 50. If I have been doing it illegally, I wouldn’t have given them a receipt for Rs 10. Also, I include this as a part of a film’s collection.”

On reacting to the collection dues from theatre owners, he said, “In our earlier meetings with the producers, we have informed them that based on a complaint, we will make efforts to recover dues from our side. To my knowledge, there are hardly any dues that are left to be negotiated. To be honest, theatre owners are in loss after buying movies for a huge price and those content does not bring in any collection.”

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