Hyderabad: The now controversial ‘benefit’ show on Wednesday night of ‘Pushpa 2’ may not have brought much to the film-makers in terms of a windfall in cash, but appears to have put the industry’s practice of getting such special shows under the scanner.
A leading Telugu film producer on Friday called for an end “to this fascination for benefit shows, since the money earned from then is negligible.”
Explaining how such special screenings are not very good bets to earn big bucks, the producer said “tickets for such shows cost around Rs 700 to Rs 1,100 per head, and ‘Pushpa 2’ makers managed to organise around 15-odd shows in Hyderabad and another three or four shows in Vijayawada. Overall, they would have earned roughly Rs 7 lakh per show in a 1,000-odd capacity theatre, and much less if the theatre has just 500 or 600 seats,” he said.
“In all, the earnings would be around Rs 70 lakh to Rs 80 lakh. For the Rs 400-crore budget film, these earnings are peanuts, negligible,” he added.
There is no doubt that Tollywood is worried over the tragic incident at Sandhya theatre. The death of the woman is tragic and painful. “We understand the pain and agony, and our support is with the bereaved family,” the producer said.
The movie industry in addition to introspecting in some measure over the incident, is also concerned on the role of the theatre managements and crowd control measures needed with police support. The entire area near the Sandhya theatre at the RTC crossroads was jam-packed, there were heavy crowds even in the nearby Metro Rail station there.
“We cannot understand why the woman and her family, who had tickets with them with others who too had tickets, were not allowed inside early. When Allu Arjun reached, that was when the gates were opened and everyone, ticket holders and those without them, rushed inside resulting in the stampede. Who is to be blamed for what happened? The theatre owner, absence of adequate police force, or the producers who screened the show? We are clueless,” he added.
