The raging controversy over new ticket prices following the implementation of GST continues in Tamil Nadu. The footfalls in theatres across the state are at an all-time low. There’s a resistance among the audience across platforms, including online booking charges. Pandigai, which carried good reports, would usually have been sold out in advance for the weekend in multiplexes. But new ticket rates and exorbitant online booking charges, including GST, made it a whopping ₹185 to ₹195.
A drop in attendance
After seeing the plight of small movies struggling to make an opening, Abirami Ramanathan, the president of Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners and Distributors Association, decided to waive off the Internet convenience charges. Abirami Ramanathan says, “I was shocked to find only 30 to 40 people watching new releases at my screens after GST was imposed. I realised that my ₹120 ticket has now become ₹194 with the implementation of GST, net booking charges, along with additional GST on it. The best way out, especially to encourage small films, was to waive the internet convenience charges. I have done it only on an experimental basis to encourage smaller films.”
Ramanathan’s decision has made him a hero on social media, but it has created fissures among other theatre owners. Says a veteran producer, “What were Ramanathan and others doing when ticket prices remained the same for 11 years, even as technology advanced and the cost of living increased? They could never voice their dissent due to political pressures to keep ticket rates low, despite court rulings in their favour.”
An ‘inconvenience’ charge
Post the implementation of GST, online ticketing sites and multiplex ticketing apps were on a roll in Chennai. They used to charge “convenience charge” of between ₹20 and ₹35 per ticket for online booking.
When was the last time you saw a serpentine queue outside a theatre, waiting patiently from early in the morning for advance booking counters to open? Today, almost the entire advance booking business has moved online, with many booking sites crashing as advance booking opens at midnight for a Tamil superstar movie. As per unconfirmed reports (theatres refused to give data), nearly 40 to 55% of tickets sold in the three Cs — Chennai, Chengalpet and Coimbatore — are online, while rest of the state averaged 10 to 15%.
Darkest before dawn
Vijay Anand of BookMyShow, the market leader in India for online ticket sales, says, “Tamil Nadu featured among the top seven in India for online ticket sales (mainly from Chennai city and Chengalpet area), but was below neighbouring states of Karnataka, Andhra and Telangana. The current crisis is only temporary; once flexible ticket prices and star-driven content comes along, things will normalise.”
In fact, just last month Chinese e-commerce group Alibaba invested over ₹120 crore to acquire a substantial stake in Chennai-based online ticketing site TicketNew founded by Ramkumar Nammalvar. Ticket New has a presence in 300 cities in India, with 60 of them in Tamil Nadu. Ramkumar says, “There is a significant drop in online booking in Tamil Nadu after the recent price increase, but it is only temporary. I’m sure one or two biggies like VIP2 and Vivegam will revive the market. Online booking is fast catching up in Tamil Nadu, and I believe it is the future. We are looking to get a slice of the all-India film industry gross total revenue of ₹138 billion ($ 2.1 billion), expected to grow 11.5% year on year.”