The Basant theatre in Sakchi. Picture by Uma Shankar Dubey

Jamshedpur, Jan. 6: The lights are gradually dimming at Basant Talkies, one of the few surviving theatres in the city. The cinema hall had to restructure ticket rates thrice in a year. The lastest slash in prices came three days ago when the management fixed Rs 10 as the maximum rate and Rs 5 as the minimum rate.

The latest slash in prices was not aimed at increasing the crowd filtering into the hall as it is in “managing to raise enough revenue to meet the tax-burden.” The theatre, now showing Tujhe Meri Kasam, does not remember the last time when it was filled to half its capacity.

The early Nineties saw a rise in prices of tickets at Rs 5, Rs 7 and Rs 10. But in 1993, prices were hiked to Rs 8, Rs 10 and Rs 15 respectively and remained so for the next seven years. But with compound taxation in theatres coming into force, prices of tickets were once again hiked in 2001 to Rs 10, Rs 15 and Rs 23 respectively.

But by then, the cable television has captured the market. With the cable invasion and the accompanying hike in ticket rates, the crowd that thronged the hall sometime spilling on to the streets, ebbed.

“We are literally fighting our last battle. The tax liability has increased to such an extent that it is very difficult to carry on with business. If we keep the ticket rates high to meet our expenses, then the number of viewers drop and we have to pay a fixed tax irrespective of whether the hall is empty or filled. On the other hand, we earn a meagre revenue if we keep the ticket rates low. Both ways, we end up making a loss,” said the owner of Basant Cinema H.N. Parikh.

Parikh, who is also the Jharkhand Exhibitors’ Association's president, said at the moment his only aim was to bring business to such a level that they broke even. “The condition of theatre owners is more or less the same and the halls are closing in quick succession. I am hoping against hope that things look up though chances appear slim,” he said.

Parikh said the new rates is the last experiment and if it fails to produce the desired effect, then he will have no other option but to close down the theatre. “However, it is too early to predict anything,” he said.

on the result of the revised rates because it is just

three days old and

people are not fully aware of our step,” he said.

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