It appears YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is being totally misled by some people within the government over the online cinema ticketing system in theatres.
These are the people who had earlier forced Jagan to issue a government order (GO_ overnight reducing the cinema ticket prices in theatres by citing an old GO of Tamil Nadu government to create troubles for Pawan Kalyan’s film Vakeel Saab.
These people are virtually playing a double role by making all sorts of promises to the film industry on one side and tall claims before the chief minister on the other.
They have simply made the whole system complicated in the name of taking up the online cinema ticketing system.
Initially, when Jagan contemplated online ticketing system, his idea was to tie-up with private agencies like Bookmyshow.com, so that he would get the details of collections in theatres regularly and everything would be transparent.
The management of the system and software would have been looked after by Bookmyshow.com, so that the government need not have to create a separate system for the entire exercise.
But the people quoted above played havoc with the entire plan. They convinced the chief minister that the government itself can manage the online ticketing system and there is no need to increase the cinema ticket prices till the system is in place.
Apparently these people thought they could make some big money from film distributors in the name of online ticketing system. But sources said it is easier said than done.
It required a massive investment of around Rs 1,000 crore to create and operate the online ticketing system, besides incurring recurring establishment expenses.
Apparently to counter the government move, several exhibitors are learnt to have come up with a strategy. They reportedly entered into ante-dated agreements with Bookmyshow.com for online sale of cinema tickets in their theatres till 2025.
If the government takes over the online ticketing system in theatres, the agreement with Bookmyshow.com would automatically get terminated.
Then the company would definitely approach the high court accusing the theatre management of breach of contract.
The theatre managements would then shift the blame on the Jagan government, saying it was the government policy and they would have to abide by it.
Naturally, the high court would either dismiss or stay the government order on online ticketing system.
This would land the chief minister in an embarrassing situation and the online ticketing system would have to be kept in cold storage even after spending so many crores.
Ironically, the same people who have been advising Jagan on this issue are learnt to have told the exhibitors in B and C centres to charge higher rates for films ignoring the government order, since Jagan would not have time to go deep into the issue.
So, the bottom line is: the government will not be able to do online ticketing business in the near future nor will it implement the GO reducing the ticket prices!
