The Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh has taken a decision on taking over online cinema ticket sales only on a suggestion from the Telugu film industry representatives.
This was disclosed by state minister for information and public relations Perni Venkatramaiah alias Nani at a press conference on Tuesday.
He said the issue came up for discussion during a meeting of chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy with a delegation of Tollywood led by megastar Chiranjeevi and comprising other film personalities including Nagarjuna Akkineni and S S Rajamouli in June this year.
“The delegation came up with a number of suggestions related to the film industry during the discussion, including online sale of cinema tickets by the government. Most of the suggestions made by them were implemented and now, the government is considering the suggestion on online ticket sales,” Nani said.
He said the government had constituted a committee to look into the possibility of implementing the online cinema ticket sale.
“A decision would be taken only after the committee submits its report. Till such time, any criticism on the move is unwarranted,” he said.
By disclosing that the decision to sell cinema tickets online was taken only on the suggestion from the Tollywood delegation, the Jagan government has pushed the film industry to a corner.
So far, none of the Tollywood personalities came up with any statement in support or opposing the decision.
It was believed that the issue would come up at the meeting of the Tollywood delegation with Jagan on September 20. But even before the meeting, Nani’s statement came as a surprise to them.
The minister further said the proposal to take over online sale of cinema tickets was mooted during the previous governments as well.
“In fact, the Central government, way back in 2002, suggested to all the states to go in for online sale of cinema tickets,” he said.
He recalled that similar attempts were made in 2003, 2005 and 2006 during the combined Andhra Pradesh regime. In 2014, too, the TDP government also considered a proposal made by commercial tax department authorities and constituted a committee headed by chief secretary in 2017.
“Our whole intention is to see that cinema viewing should be made affordable to the common man and the government should get sufficient revenue from the entertainment industry,” Nani added.
