Single screen theatre can save film business: Manmohan Shetty
By IANSTuesday, November 24, 2009
PANAJI - Filmmaker Manmohan Shetty, who started the trend of multiplex cinema chains, now says single screen theatres and cheap movie tickets will revive the Indian film industry, which he feels is weighed under increasing production costs.
“The main culprit to bring down Bollywood are multiplexes. The tickets are priced so high that people who used to watch the movies by paying Rs.30 to Rs.40 are not coming to cinema halls anymore,” said Shetty.
“With high budgets and high priced tickets at multiplexes, film business has become difficult,” he said at a conference, “India - The Big Picture”, organized here by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
Shetty, who produced movies like “GangaaJal”, said that escalating production costs and exorbitant fees charged by stars have made movie production a tricky business.
“Even though film producers spend Rs.10-15 crore on promotion of films, it is difficult to recover the amount,” he said, adding that a star like Akshay Kumar, who earlier used to charge Rs.1 crore now commands Rs.25 crore.
