Once screened for social causes, special shows now benefit a few

Decadesback, premiere shows of the most sought-after heroes were screened for charity purposes.

Over the years, the purpose of screening benefit shows has largely been confined to benefiting film producers.

Even as a similar trend continues for quite a while, the recent stampede incident at Sandhya Theatre in Hyderabad during the screening of ‘Pushpa-2 The Rule’ that had cost the life of a 35-year-old woman, leaving her eight-year-old son Sri Tej hospitalised to get treated for coma, calls for a serious attention.

Although Sri Tej is showing signs of recovery, the incident did draw the government’s intervention.

In the garb of special screenings, cinema ticket rates are being hiked exorbitantly, exploiting the ardent admirers who do not think twice to shell out extra to watch their favourite hero’s film in the theatre.

Following the tragic incident at Sandhya Theatre, the Telangana government decided to put an end to screening benefit shows for the larger benefit of the public, safeguard their safety and prevent recurrence of similar incidents in future.

Even as there is no such ban in place in Andhra Pradesh, the CPI leaders appealed to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu not to permit ticket price hike and benefit shows of the ensuing new releases.

Apparently, public representatives opined that the benefit shows turn out to be a major advantage for the producers and end up looting the movie-goers. The demand to ban benefit shows intensifies as people from various sections feel that the AP government too should take a similar stand like the Telangana government.

However, TDP state president Palla Srinivasa Rao opines that stopping the benefit show cannot be considered as an appropriate decision.

“But, measures are to be taken to avoid any untoward incidents from happening in theatres and the onus lies on the government, theatre operators and filmmakers,” he says.

On the contrary, Madugula MLA Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy and Visakhapatnam North constituency MLA P Vishnu Kumar Raju were against screening benefit shows as they felt that producers alone are deriving benefit out of such screenings. They added that the government should refrain from permitting such special screenings unless they are meant for a social cause or become beneficial to the government.

Save for an increased work pressure for the staff in the cinema halls, theatre operators say that there is not much advantage from special screenings.

However, how is the Andhra Pradesh government going to take a stand on premiere screening has to be seen as a series of new releases have been queued up for Sankranti festival, including actor Ram Charan’s ‘Game Changer’ and Nandamuri Balakrishna’s ‘NBK 109 Daaku Maharaj’.