Maha has rationalised, will Karnataka follow suit?

Rs 1000 per movie ticket and Rs. 600 for a carton of popcorn and a cola? Can you gulp it down your throat without guilt? Yes, people are doing it already and looking at the rush in those new plush multiplexes and their royally loaded cafeterias one may even forget the typical 'Indian economic condition' syndrome.

The recent additions to the world of cinema exhibition in Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Mysuru and Belagavi will no doubt dazzle you but Rs.5,000 for a movie for a family of four and the lousy popcorn and unhealthy cola per outing? Not a common man's fare!

Middle-class movies moviegoers quake in their seats when the announcement of the intermission is made. The children rise up eagerly to buy a carton of popcorn and down it with a bottle of popular aerated drinks. The parents who are with them reluctantly reach for their wallets, knowing full well that they will have to dig deep to pay the bill at the snack counter because it will cost them more than the family of four's movie tickets.

The middle class now enjoys taking their families to the opulent multiplexes on the weekends because it gives them a brief feeling of wealth, but buying a snack at exorbitant prices is a let-down. From August 1, the Maharashtra government had issued stern instructions to the multiplex cinemas not to forbid moviegoers from bringing snacks from outside starting on August 1. Using rules from the Maharashtra Cinemas (Regulation) Rules of 1966, the government of that state has told multiplexes to let customers bring food from outside into the theatres. The government has cited the law prohibiting dual pricing as justification for why it is necessary to outlaw the practice of charging various maximum retail prices for the same product in various locations. Multiplexes in Maharashtra have done it as after all, it is the birthplace of India's first film!

However, moviegoers in Karnataka are now wondering why can't Karnataka do it if Maharashtra can? Are moviegoers in Karnataka any different from those in Maharashtra? "Following the directives of the government to not to ban outside snacks in the multiplexes from 1 August things have started taking more natural forms of patron movement, there are spurts in ticket sales even to the films that were released last week, usually our experience is that no film used to run more than a few days in any multiplexes, but if they are shown in single screen movies they used to run more, when we talked among ourselves we found out that common people had preferred to move away from the multiplexes just because they could get mid movie snacks at a reasonable price" says Ramanath Naik, member of Mumbai Mahanagar Movie Goers Association.

The multiplexes in Karnataka are the second-best in the nation after those in Mumbai and Hyderabad; F&B concessionaires account for 25–30 per cent of revenue at those venues, compared to 27–32 per cent across all of India/. Many major cities like Mumbai, Chennai, New Delhi, and Hyderabad had Inox screens but Bengaluru and other multiplexes in the state have caught up more quickly than those metros. Moviegoers find the snack bar prices to be on the higher side, which deters moviegoers.

But the Maharashtra government's move could prove to be a game changer not just there but also in other places, especially Karnataka.