Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has granted a five lakh financial aid for well known director turned actor A T Raghu who is suffering from Kidney failure.

KFCC president Sa Ra Govindu himself confirmed that the Chief Minister has granted a five lakh financial aid for the director during the thanks giving press meet held at the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday evening.

'The Chief Minister has granted a five lakh aid for the ailing Raghu and even the cheque is ready. We will be collecting it shortly and will be handling it over to the director's family soon' said Sa Ra Govindu.

Actress Bhavana's debut film as a producer 'Niruttara', might not have been a big hit at the box-office, but was in news for various reasons from the beginning. On Monday evening Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Home Minister G Parameshwar and others watched the film at a special show organised by Bhavana at the Chamundeshwari Studio in Bangalore.

'Niruttara' is directed by Girish Kasaravalli's son Apoorva Kasaravalli and this is his debut film as a director. The film stars Bhavana, Aindrita, Kiran Srinivas and others in prominent roles. The film is based on a story by Vikram Hatwar. H M Ramachandra is the cameraman.

The Chief Minister on Sunday inaugurated the sports organised by the Karnataka Film Producers Sports and Cultural Association at the Dr Ambedkar Grounds in Basaveshwaranagar in Bangalore.

The Chief Minister along with Information Minister Roshan Baig and others arrived at the grounds in the morning and inaugurated the event by lighting the lamp. Veteran actress Jayanthi, producers association president Muniratna, KFCC president Thomas D'Souza, K C N Chandrashekhar and others were present at the occasion.

The sports meet included 100 mtr running race, 400 mtr running race, shotput, aiming the wicket, sack race for gents, while 100 mtr lemon race, musical chair, one leg race and sack race for ladies.

Though the invitation to participate in the event was extended to every fraternit of the Kannada film industry, not much celebrities attended except for a few like Sharan, Ravishankar, Vanisri and others.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said that the Government is ready to do anything for the Dr Vishnu Memorial and is waiting for the nod of Dr Vishnu's fans and Bharathi Vishnuvardhan.

Earlier, there was a news that the Dr Vishnuvardhan memorial will be shifted from Bangalore's Abhiman Studio to Mysore. Even Vishnuvardhan's family including Bharathi Vishnuvardhan and Aniruddh had said that it is better to build the memorial in Mysore rather than Bangalore because of various legal problems. But the fans of the actor, protested against it saying that they wanted the memorial to be built in Bangalore. The Vishnu Sena Samithi has been holding a protest in this regard in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statute near Race Course.

When asked about this during the launch of 'Panta', 'We are committed to do anything for the Dr Vishnuvardhan memorial. But it is now up to his family and fans to decide whether the memorial should be. After getting a nod from them, we will continue with the memorial' said Siddaramaiah.

Most people, especially film audience are rejoicing the Karnataka Government's budget announcement that tickets in multiplexes will have a maximum price of Rs 200. But there are some people who are not happy with it. The people who will face the immediate implication of this move are non-Kannada film distributors and exhibitors especially in Bengaluru. This includes Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. 

Multiplex Ticket Price Capped At Rs 200

Non-Kannada films like Bengaluru because of the huge ticket prices in multiplexes. If the film has stars it naturally there will be a big audience in the opening weekend. This is when the non-Kannada films make a killing at the box office. If we look at trends, non-Kannada films do not have a long run in the box office in Karnataka. It is usually the opening weekend and the first week. Very rarely some non-Kannada films have a run of a few weeks at the theatres. So ticket prices are priced very high from Rs 200 to nearly Rs 1,000. 

CM Promises To Solve Multiplex Ticket Price Issue

The huge ticket price means, the exhibitors get more money out of non-Kannada films. If multiplexes share 50 per cent in first week they get half the collections. But for Kannada films, since the ticket prices are low good prime time shows are not granted because of this. But if a Kannada film is doing well, shows are given after 2-3 weeks. By this time the multiplexes get a share of 70% and the film producer gets only 30%. By introducing the Rs 200 maximum limit, exhibitors will not make exhorbitant money out of non-Kannada films and only good films will get shows. The advantage will be with Kannada films.

Because non-Kannada films are priced high, distributors think they can make a profit within three days of release and therefore pay a huge amount to buy the rights for Karnataka especially Bengaluru. In other parts of Karnataka, there are few multiplexes and ticket prices in single screens are almost the same.

The distribution rights of films starring big stars of non Kannada films have gone through the roof in the last few years. This has kept pace with the increase in multiplexes in Bengaluru. From just one multiplex 10 years ago, there are over 30 multiplexes in Bengaluru now with over 150 screens. To recover the huge money, the tickets are priced very high. Audience who watch films paying such huge amounts keep away from other films for at least a month affecting other films. Instead of watching 4-5 films with Rs 1,000, they end up watching only one film. 

Coming up: Part 2: Telugu film Baahubali will be a Test Case

Also See

Budget Also Lists Past Contributions to Film Industry

Multiplex Ticket Price Capped At Rs 200

KFCC asks Govt to Cap Multiplex Prices at Rs 150

CM Promises To Solve Multiplex Ticket Price Issue

Multiplex issue - Shivarajakumar supports KFCC and KCA

Multiplexes Ticket For Rs 120. Will Govt Accept?

Actor Back in Multiplexes

Uma Column 13 - ಮಲ್ಟಿಪ್ಲೆಕ್ಸಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿನಿಮಾ ಭಾಗ್ಯ ಯೋಜನೆ

Action On Multiplex - Watch Dog Appointed

What will be the real on ground effect of the Rs 200 limit on multiplex tickets? The test will come soon enough. As we have seen before, it is the big non-Kannada films that have spurred the exorbitant prices of tickets in Bengaluru's multiplexes. Let me reiterate again that though the cap is for all theatres, single screens and theatres outside Bengaluru hardly ever have ticket prices above Rs 200. It is only multiplexes in Bengaluru that have these unreasonable price.

Rs 200 Budget Impact - Part 1 - KM Veeresh Writes

The test of the impact will come in April when the big non-Kannada film Baahubali the Conclusion is releasing. The Telugu film is among the big non-Kannada film releasing in Karnataka this year. In 2015 the first part of the film was released and for weeks multiplexes had high ticket prices for the film. After that film, Hindi film Bhajarangi Bhaijaan also had high ticket prices. These films are said to have drained Rs 50 crore from the Karnataka market to outside. These two films also affected other films because audience who normally watched 3-4 films in a month ended up watching only one movie.

Multiplex Ticket Price Capped At Rs 200

The effect of Rs 200 cap is already being witnessed in the case of Baahubali. Expecting high ticket prices, the demand from distributors for Karnataka rights of the film was said to be Rs 35-40 crore. But since the announcement and expecting it to be implemented within a month before that film releases, the demand for the film from distributors has come down drastically. The distributors were expecting to recover the money within two weeks of release by pricing the film very high in multiplexes. But with the cap of Rs 200, the film will have to have a longer run of at least 4-5 weeks with the same capacity. 

CM Promises To Solve Multiplex Ticket Price Issue

Expecting that the film may find it difficult to recover such a huge amount, the asking price for the film has come down drastically according to sources. Infact except for Baahubali no other non-Kannada film had demanded so much money for distribution rights in Karnataka. Even Rajinikanth's Tamil films which enjoy large appeal was sold for much less. Only two non-Kannada films have been sold for more than Rs 10 crore in Karnataka for distribution. One is Baahubali The Beginning (Telugu) and the other is Kabali (Tamil). All other films including of big stars was available for Rs 2-3 crore earlier has now doubled or tripled. But not all of them make profit. 

Chiranjeevi's 150th film Khaidi No.150 was brought to Karnataka by paying Rs 8 crore. The film just about managed to recover its cost for the distributor. The film was a remake of a Tamil film. Now another Telugu film releasing this month Katamarayudu has been purchased for Rs 7 crore. The film will escape the Rs 200 cap. So it will be Baahubali which will be the real test for non-Kannada films in Karnataka. Going by the success of the previous instalment, the film may make big money. But how the local distributors react to the Rs 200 cap will decide the fate of non-Kannada films henceforth.

Also See

Rs 200 Budget Impact - Part 1 - KM Veeresh Writes

Budget Also Lists Past Contributions to Film Industry

Multiplex Ticket Price Capped At Rs 200

KFCC asks Govt to Cap Multiplex Prices at Rs 150

CM Promises To Solve Multiplex Ticket Price Issue

Multiplex issue - Shivarajakumar supports KFCC and KCA

Multiplexes Ticket For Rs 120. Will Govt Accept?

Actor Back in Multiplexes

Uma Column 13 - ಮಲ್ಟಿಪ್ಲೆಕ್ಸಲ್ಲಿ ಸಿನಿಮಾ ಭಾಗ್ಯ ಯೋಜನೆ

Action On Multiplex - Watch Dog Appointed

Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce president Sa Ra Govindu thanked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. On Wednesday, Siddaramaiah submitted budget for the year 2017-18 and in the budget the Chief Minister has reduced the ticket rates of multiplexes to Rs 200 apart from giving prime time to Kannada films in multiplexes.

Speaking regarding that in a press meet later in the evening, Sa Ra Govindu thanked the Chief Minister. 'We are very much grateful to the Chief Minister. He has given all we wanted. Now we have a big responsibility on our shoulders. The Government knows the problems the Kannada film industry is facing and has helped us to maximum extent. Now it is up to us to give good films and show our capacity. I request all the producers and directors to make good films' said Sa Ra Govindu.

Budget Also Lists Past Contributions to Film Industry

Multiplex Ticket Price Capped At Rs 200

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has come to the aid of senior film director and actor KSL Swamy (Ravee) who is recovering from a stroke in a private hospital. The government has released Rs 5 lakh for his treatment.

The cheque was given to KSL Swamy by Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy president Rajendra Singh Babu and MLC Jayamala today. Swamy is one of the seniormost directors in Kannada and has a career in films of five decades. He has been in intensive care for over two weeks now.

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KSL Swamy Hospitalised

History 45 - KSL Swamy Makes His Debut