The Madras High Court, on Wednesday, ordered theaters in the state to strictly follow the government’s rule of collecting parking fee. This was in response to the public litigation filed against theatres, by S Natarajan from Pallikaranai, Chennai, for charging excess amount for food and beverage sold in theatres, and for collecting high parking fee.
According to a report, Natarajan said in his petition, “Most of the multiplexes and theatres charge extra amount for parking. The food sold in theatres is also high, and they don’t allow outside food. Because of this people who want to watch films in theatres suffer, and this is something against the theatre rules.”
Tamil Nadu is also the first state in the country to have introduced Local Body Entertainment Tax (LBET), a 10% price hike in addition to GST. Kerala recently introduced this, and ticket prices in the state have been increased from Rs 10 to Rs 25 per ticket.
While going to the movies is considered a family activity in Tamil Nadu, the restrictions on bringing outside food, and overpriced packaged food sold in theatres, make every outing a costly affair. A movie at a multiplex costs a person Rs 500 on an average. And despite the ruling that bottled water should be sold at MRP, not all follow the rule.
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In July last year, Maharashtra government ordered cinema theatres in the state to allow outside food, and to sell packaged food items at MRP. During the assembly session in Nagpur, Maharashtra’s Minister of Information and Technology Ravindra Chauhan announced that from August 1 strict action will be taken against theatres that failed to comply to this rule.
The move came after the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) held a series of protests seeking an explanation as to why food was being sold at a premium price in theatres. Multiplexes and movie theatres in Hyderabad too have been directed to not sell packaged food items at prices higher than MRP.
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