Talasani Srinivas Yadav: Government has no plans to reduce ticket prices

Talasani Srinivas Yadav, the Telangana Minister for Cinematography, on Friday, stated that the government has no plans to reduce cinema ticket prices. Addressing the media after discussions with a committee of Telugu film directors and producers, Talasani said that the people in the state can go to the theatres and watch movies without any fears as the government is fully geared up to tackle a possible third wave of Covid-19.

The Minister's words gained importance amidst speculations that the government is planning to restrict the seating capacity and also thinking about the closure of cinema halls across the state due to a likely scenario of the third wave of Covid-19.

"The Telugu film industry has been facing challenges due to Covid-19 for the last two years. At a time when the industry is on the road to recovery, the Omicron variant is sparking fears among the people. I urge people to not believe in rumours. We have not put any restrictions on the occupancy of theatres," he said.

Further, the Minister added, "Although the government allowed theatres to operate with 100% occupancy, the audience are not turning up as expected. After Akhanda's release, the footfalls have considerably increased. Soon we will see an array of big films featuring big heroes in theatres. I am hoping that the footfalls will increase further. It's time the directors and producers should be vigilant. Majority of citizens got vaccinated with two doses across the state. Thousands of families are relying on the cinema industry and the government will support all of them," said Talasani Srinivas Yadav.

The Minister also asserted that the meeting had discussed several pending issues of the industry. Present in the meeting were producers Dil Raju, DVV Danayya, S Radha Krishna (China Babu), Naveen Yerneni, Pramod Uppalapati, directors SS Rajamouli and Trivikram Srinivas among others.