Mythri Movie Makers is the banner behind Ustaad Bhagat Singh, which stars Pawan Kalyan, and opens on the big screen on Thursday. On this occasion, producer Y Ravi Shankar Naveen, along with director Harish Shankar and the film’s female leads Sreeleela and Raashii Khanna, interacted with the media and spoke about the film.
Generally, big-ticket films receive a ticket price hike, but Ustaad Bhagat Singh is releasing in Telangana with normal ticket prices. In Andhra Pradesh, the government granted permission for a ticket price hike, but the makers did not receive approval in Telangana.
“The Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is very supportive and always ready to help the industry. However, due to legal issues, we decided to release the film with normal ticket prices in Telangana, which has earned us a lot of appreciation,” confirmed Naveen.
Speaking about ticket price hikes, Naveen said some big-budget films require flexible pricing due to their massive production costs. “We have five to six big films coming up that may require ticket price hikes because of their budgets. For example, we spent nearly Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.5 crore per day during the shoot of NTRNeel in Jordan. The visuals we captured there are extraordinary,” he revealed. The film stars Jr NTR and is directed by Prashanth Neel.
The producer added that smaller films do not require ticket price hikes, while only big-budget productions may need them. “We need flexible ticket rates, and soon members of the industry will approach the governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. I am confident that we will find a permanent solution. When a big film releases, the decision about ticket price hikes should ideally be left to the producer. In most states, this is already the practice,” Naveen said.
