The Telangana High Court struck down the memo issued by the Telangana government permitting an increase in ticket prices for the movie Raja Saab, starring Prabhas. The court expressed strong anger over the government’s approach. It questioned why memos increasing ticket rates are being issued every time. The memo for increasing Raja Saab ticket prices was issued late Thursday night. As a result, premiere shows were screened at old rates only at a few places in Hyderabad, and based on the memo issued at midnight, permission was given to increase ticket prices in Telangana to ₹105 in single screens and ₹132 in multiplexes. Accordingly, tickets were sold at the increased rates. With this, the price of a single Raja Saab ticket in multiplexes, including all taxes, reached ₹492. Since the memo was issued at midnight, advocate Vijay Gopal filed a petition in the court on Friday. After hearing the matter, the court struck down the memo and directed BookMyShow to sell tickets only at the old rates. The court questioned how officials could issue such memos when, on one hand, the concerned department minister was saying that ticket prices would not be increased.
With these latest developments, it appears certain that there will also be an impact on Chiranjeevi’s movie Mana Shankara Varaprasad Garu, which is scheduled to be released before audiences on January 12. This movie, directed by Anil Ravipudi, is also likely to begin with premiere shows from the night of January 11. Tollywood circles are saying that due to the Raja Saab effect, there is no chance that the Telangana government will grant permission either for premieres or for a ticket price hike for this movie. There are criticisms that unless the government takes a clear policy decision, pushing audiences and everyone else into confusion every time a new movie is released is not right. Compared to Telangana, ticket prices are lower in Andhra Pradesh, so it is believed that permission for a hike may be granted there. Many are expressing the opinion that even Chiranjeevi’s movie will not escape a shock in Telangana.