Hyderabad: Following protests at the Film Chamber of Commerce against the current system of leasing out theatres, exhibitors on Saturday held a press conference at the Telangana State Film Chamber of Commerce and clarified that the theatre lease system was legal and couldn’t be abolished.
Exhibitor Vijayender Reddy said, “Many theatres owners can’t run their theatres and can’t even pay salaries to the staff. So they opted to give their theatres on lease. It’s like giving a house on rent. It’s legal in India and in the entire world.”
Taking about Dasari’s recent comment that the small film Loukyam had been removed from theatres to make way for Govindudu Andarivaadele, Reddy said, “It’s not true and Dasari commented without verify the facts.
For every film we make agreements and for Govindudu Andarivaadele, we had made an agreement long ago. In the meantime Loukyam was announced and the producer agreed for the screening for lesser days.”
Sunil Narang, owner of Asian Cinemas Multiplexes, said, “There are nearly 150 people involved in the theatre lease system but it has become the practice to blame only four people for anything in the industry, which is not good,” he says.
