Film to film, ticket prices to vary

Cinema ticket prices will now fluctuate like the shares in stock exchanges. Instead of a uniform price across the week, theatres can charge different rates for different days. All the theatre owners have to do is to intimate the licensing authority three days in advance.

Paving the way for multiplexes, the State Government on Thursday brought into effect flexible pricing of tickets by notifying the amendment to the Odisha Cinema (Regulation) Rules, 1964. The Home Department issued a notification bringing into effect the Odisha Cinemas( Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2012 which will guide the pricing. District collector will be the licensing authority while in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, Commissionerate of Police will look into it.

The theatre owners can now classify the seats and have differential entry fees for different days of the week as well as for different shows in a day.

The amendment was on the cards since opening of INOX, City’s first multiplex   had apparently been delayed because the flexible pricing was not in place in the State.

The new regime has been welcomed by the cinema hall owners who have long been demanding the flexible pricing. “It will have a three-pronged effect and benefit the cinema hall owners, state ex-chequer and producers,” president of All Odisha Cinema Hall Owners Association BK Mohanty said.

The flexible pricing, acording to Mohanty, will substantially reduce black-marketing of tickets since theatre owners will have freedom to revise the rates according to the audience inflow. “If there are films in certain theatres which do not pull in the crowd, the owner can slash the rate by informing the licensing authority,” he said.

The association felt that a drop in black-marketing will boost government revenue while cinema hall business will be viable. The film producers will also stand to make more money. “All over the country, except for Odisha, flexible pricing mechanism existed. Now that it has come, we welcome it,” Mohanty said.

The entertainment tax, however, will remain unchanged. For Hindi and other language films, the State charges 25 percent tax on ticket price while Odia films are exempted.