Despite High Court diktat, Sarkar tickets sold for thousands, bulk bookings blamed

While the maximum cost of tickets in the State’s most luxurious theatre is officially priced at Rs 206 (including internet booking charges), in reality getting tickets for Sarkar was more of an auction than a sale. Even as the minimum ticket price outside the counters and online booking started at Rs 400, the maximum cost went up to several thousands in the city. The reason: Distributors purchased the film at a huge cost.

Ranee Paradise, a theatre in Thanjavur, stopped the screening of the movie as distributors allegedly pressured the owners to sell tickets for over Rs 200.

“I wonder why distributors are being blamed for the hike in tickets. The actors aren’t ready to reduce their remuneration and the movie’s budget increased from what was originally planned. The distributors, in turn, were made to buy the copy for over Rs 20 crore. Hence, ticket prices rose. Moreover, this is done illegally. Mainly fan clubs buy tickets in bulk and sell it for over Rs 1,000. No theatre counters or ticketing websites sell tickets for such a huge sum. This would backfire on theatre owners, as people will prefer digital content. Such malpractices should be curbed,” said Tirupur Subramaniam, president of Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners’ Association.

But Vijay fan club members are miffed. “Why don’t you talk about other stars whose film’s tickets earlier this year and last year sold for Rs 3,000. People target only ‘Thalapathy’ Vijay. It’s unfair. Does he force people to buy tickets for his films for Rs 2,000? People who worship Thalapathy could afford a huge amount to watch him on the big screen,” said a Vijay Makkal Iyakkam member.

It also emerged that special shows which were cancelled won’t incur losses.

“Another untold fact is that, some charity associations buy tickets in bulk and sell them for higher prices for their fundraising activities. Moreover, there is no such thing as ‘FDFS’ or special shows being cancelled. Devarajan, who filed the PIL, had said Sarkar should abide by the laws ahead of its release. When the judgment came, other orders were also passed along with it. One of them is that the first show should be within the scheduled time of theatres which is 9 am. So, there won’t be any shows before that and some Collectors have been asked to ensure this,” said Abirami Ramanathan, theatre owner and president of Tamil Nadu Film Chamber of Commerce.