As the advance booking for tickets to S.S. Rajamouli’s ‘Bahubali-The Conclusion’ was opened - online since Tuesday and at the Box Office counters at single screen theatres and multiplexes from Wednesday, the clamour for tickets appear to become a roar.
While numbers were not forthcoming, the craze among film buffs to know about why Katappa killed Bahubali this Friday was evident from the queues at Box Office counters. Tech-savvy connoisseurs of films were feverishly browsing different websites selling tickets online right through Tuesday for the multi-lingual.
“It is clear that people, especially film buffs want to be among the first to tweet the answer to the single question about Katappa murderous act, said Shankar, working in an IT company. Anyway, the answer will be known when over a dozen single screens and multiplexes project shows from 8.30 p.m. on Thursday itself, he went on to add.
None connected with the production and distribution of the film, whose part one - ‘Bahubali-The Beginning’ grossed over Rs. 600 crore when it was released in 2015, were available to give out details of sale. Those in the industry felt the ‘over-hype’ given to the film in the manner of a well-planned strategy led to the craze peaking.
BookMyShow, a large online entertainment ticketing platform however, on Wednesday evening stated that it had sold a million tickets in just over 24 hours since Tuesday, a full two days before the release of ‘Bahubali-The Conclusion’ in . The record was earlier held by the Aamir Khan-starrer ‘Dangal’, said Chief Operating Officer of BookMyShow, Ashish Saksena.
Closer home, across the twin cities , there were reports of widespread black-marketing of tickets. In a press release, Commissioner-Commercial Taxes (Telangana), V. Anil Kumar said it had come to notice that some theatre owners across the State were collecting higher amounts than the notified ticket rates.
This was contrary to the provisions of the Telangana Entertainment Tax, 1939 (Adapted), Act he said, informing people that they could pass on any violations by theatre owners, over the 24/7 toll free number of the department, 1800-4253787.
Asked about the permission accorded to single screens to project an additional, 5th show every day, Minister for Cinematography, Talasani Srinivas Yadav said, “We acceded to a request from the producers of ‘Bahubali 2’ for single screens alone. Multiplexes already have permission,” he said, pointing out that earlier, tax exemptions were given to films like ‘Rudrama Devi,’, Balakrishna-starrer ‘Gautamiputra Satakarni’ and ‘Brahmotsavam’.
The Minister said that Government of Telangana would encourage films and dole out sops, only based on the historical and educational nature of the content, on a case-to-case basis,” categorically denying any favouritism being alleged.
