Celebrities owing theatres a prestige issue
Now a days almost all the stars are coming up with their own multiplexes. Mahesh Babu, Venkatesh, Allu Arjun, Ravi Teja and Vijay Deverakonda and others already have their own multiplexes and many more like Chiranjeevi, Ram Charan, NTR are showing interest .
Producer, director Madhura Sreedhar says “I want more superstars to enter the theatre business. Multiplexes are the future of the cinema-viewing experience, and slowly, single screens may go out of business over the next five years,”
He added "Telugu stars feel proud of owning theatres as it gives them a different feel. Even superstars like Rajinikanth and Shah Rukh Khan don’t have this advantage,”
He points out “A 250-300-seat multiplex theatre will be the next big attraction for youngsters and families. Single screens, with seating capacities of 700 to 1,000, are finding it increasingly difficult to get housefuls even for a few days a week, making their maintenance difficult,”
He continued “I would thank Suniel Narang for being a catalyst in creating a healthy ecosystem in the exhibition sector. He was able to bring stars like Mahesh Babu, Allu Arjun, Ravi Teja and Vijay Deverakonda, along with Venkatesh, into the theatre business. He has been able to work out deals with them, and the brand value of such theatres is always high. Audiences throng these theatres because they offer the best film-viewing experience,”
On high prices on beverages, he says “That has to be tackled to some extent. Otherwise, multiplexes offer several advantages, including multilingual movie options, better sound and lighting, and an overall superior viewing experience,”
A single screen theatre owner says “Single screens will remain forever because of fan festivities, cut-outs and milk abhishekams. It is a celebration for superstar fans, while multiplexes don’t allow such festivities and deprive fans of that happiness,”
He shares “Box-office collections from single screens can never be replaced. They will always remain a matter of pride for Telugu stars and their fans.”
He concludes “Re-releases of star movies have revived our hopes and encouraged us to screen more films. We were worried that audiences were skipping theatres to watch movies on digital platforms, but big stars brought the crowds back and gave single-screen theatres a new lease of life,”
---- Pramod Nandivada
