Make cinema affordable for all, demand DYFI leaders

Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) in a statement on Saturday (November 29) said cinema has become unattainable for common people and demanded immediate and effective measures to make it affordable and accessible.

Participating in the discussion titled ‘Cinema – Piracy – Burden of Audience’, State Secretary of the federation G. Ramanna and President of Telugu Short Film Association DV Kalinga said that the common man, who is exposed to ills such as rising unemployment, inflation and other daily struggles, steps into the cinema hall for two hours of entertainment. But they said the high ticket prices and snack prices were unaffordable.

They criticized the state government for “depriving farmers of minimum support prices but allowing filmmakers to hike ticket prices and make huge profits through charity shows. They said cinema should have a sense of responsibility towards society and demanded stringent measures to curb piracy. Arguing that piracy exists only because cinema has become inaccessible to the public, they urged the government and film industry leaders to address these issues immediately.”

Attributing the rise in production costs mainly to the high fees paid to the actors, they said the public showed its support for iBomma Ravi only because the films were not affordable and the industry remained in the hands of a few families who dominated and controlled the deals. It has been claimed and demanded that cinema halls should stop collecting parking fees and provide basic amenities like drinking water and clean toilets as small films are struggling to survive and opportunities are not being provided to new actors as the industry is dominated by nepotism.

While the meeting was chaired by the federation’s State president Y. Ramu, the event was attended by Rajesh and G. Narayana Rao of Progressive Democratic Students Union (PDSU), short film directors Teja, Bhargav, Kiran, Vithal, Lakshman and V. Nagaraju, Sanskruthi Vedika leader G. Narayana and representatives of various other organisations.