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New online app to book tickets for Kannada films in single screens

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Bengaluru: Kannada moviegoers in Bengaluru may now book tickets online, paying cheaper prices as single screen theatres in the city are planning to come together to launch their own online ticket booking platform, on the lines of BookMyShow.
The single screen theatres exhibiting Kannada films have been further hit by demonetisation and in a bid to revive falling counter collections, theatre owners have decided to go cashless.

Even though the number of multiplexes has increased over a period of time, Kannada films are dependent more on single screens for box office success. After demonetisation, the box office collections of films have crashed. With people hardly left with cash, they do not prefer watching films by paying. The service charges in Bookmyshow and Paytm app is also very high, which is also impacting the booking.

Commenting on this, Aryan, a techie said, “The handling charges of booking websites are very high. I had booked tickets to watch “John Jani Janardhan” last Sunday in Veerabadreshwara theatre in Bengaluru. The ticket rate for two was Rs 200. The extra handling charges of the website were Rs 36. This is almost 18 percent. It is very high. The exhibitors should come together and do something to solve this issue. With difficulty to get cash from ATMs and banks, I prefer to buy it online. But if the charges are so high, I will have to think twice before booking a ticket.”

The exhibitors are planning to develop a digital platform that would cost less than Rs 5 per ticket to book online. The ticket price of a Kannada movie hardly crosses Rs 100 in single screens. So Rs 5 extra charges will be affordable by the ticket buyer as he will get more advantages than a person who buys directly over the counter from theatres.

Manu, a producer says. “Over 90 percent of ticket booking at single screen theatres is over the counter. Due to demonetisation, collections have hit a low. We should encourage cashless transactions. Having a new app for booking is the best way to do so.”

Raghavendra, manager of a popular single screen in Bengaluru says, “There has been a big fall in collections. Luckily “Santhu Straight Forward” and “Mukunda Murari” released ten days before demonetisation. Or else those films would have suffered more. Films like “Nataraja Service” and “Badmaash” have been the worst affected. The films were not great, but they were watchable. If the film had released during some other time, it would have atleast ended up being an average grosser, instead of being a washout. Luckily “Mummy” is doing well now. We hope our year ends with a bang as “Sundarana Jana” and “Kirik Party” are scheduled for release.”

Kannada film industry is already facing several problems. Demonetisation has also hit the industry badly. Several steps have to be taken to get audience back to theatre. This step of introducing new app will surely help audience as well as the film industry.

New online app to book tickets for Kannada films in single screens

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