Truth behind Jagan Reddy’s action-packed Tollywood script

In 2019, after scripting a stunning victory over the Telugu Desam Party in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had called Chandrababu Naidu’s political rout some kind of “poetic justice” delivered by God.

In 2022, the 49-year-old chief minister seems to have taken it upon himself to play God and deliver a ‘cinematic justice’ of sorts. Hitting where it hurts the most, Jagan seems to be trying to starve the Telugu film industry of the big bucks.

Regional cinema, not Bollywood, monetarily dominates the Indian film industry. As per a report released at the FICCI Frames Summit in 2020, in 2019, the Telugu and Tamil industry contributed about 47 per cent in terms of revenue to the Indian film industry. The Hindi film industry contributed about 40 per cent to the total revenue of around $2.7 billion in 2018-2019.

Among the South Indian movies, it’s the Telugu industry which brings in substantial revenue. Both in Telugu and Tamil cinema, actors enjoy God-like popularity and loyalty from their fans. Many stars have gone on to become highly successful politicians including former Andhra Pradesh chief minister NT Rama Rao and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa.

Turning the taps off

While tensions between Tollywood and Jagan had been simmering ever since he came to power, what has brought matters to a boil is a government order (GO 35), Andhra Pradesh issued on April 8, fixing the maximum ceiling rates for movie tickets. The order fixed the ticket rates for multiplexes, AC, and non-AC theatres.

Under the revised system, at multiplexes in municipal corporation areas, the minimum ticket price is Rs 75 and maximum Rs 250. In AC and non-AC theatres, the prices range from Rs 20 to Rs 100. In panchayat areas, the economy class ticket prices have been fixed at Rs 5 in non-AC theatres. The government order stated that the maximum retail price of refreshments should not be raised at theatres. The order also makes it mandatory for theatre owners to ensure free drinking water and clean restrooms.

“Any violation of the maximum ceiling rates will render the management liable for appropriate action by the Licensing Authority. The Licensing Authority will issue show cause notice and provide opportunity for personal hearing before taking penal action,” the order stated.

Faced with a backlash from theatre owners, Cinematography Minister Perni Venkataramaiah, who also holds the transport and information and public relations portfolios, said the government wants to make tickets affordable and ensure that theatres do not overcharge or exploit people. He reasoned that ticket prices rise exponentially when big movies are released.

On December 14, a single-judge bench of the Andhra Pradesh high court after hearing a petition moved by the management of a movie theatre passed an interim order suspending GO 35. But on December 16, on appeal by the state government, the court revoked the suspension.

In November, the assembly passed the Andhra Pradesh Cinemas (Regulation) (Amendment) Bill 2021 with more regulations. The law now mandates theatre owners to make provisions for online ticketing even as the state government aims to launch a portal for the online ticketing system. The system will be similar to the Indian Railways’ IRCTC.

The AP State Film, Television and Theatre Development Corporation will run the online ticketing portal. Under the new system, the Andhra government will sell the tickets and transfer the payments to the theatres.

Over the past few weeks, many theatres across the state have faced action for not complying with the mandated pricing on movie tickets and refreshments inside cinema halls. Some owners have voluntarily decided to shut down theatres saying complying with government orders was not possible. Many others were forced down following a crackdown by authorities as they were found violating norms.

The war is on

Tollywood’s ‘Power Star’ Pawan Kalyan has now locked horns with Jagan Reddy ahead of the release of his mega movie Bheemla Nayak, a remake of the Malayalam film Ayyappanum Koshiyum.

Pawan Kalyan has accused the chief minister of sharply slashing movie ticket prices right ahead of the release of his film. According to Kalyan, the Andhra government is out to strike at his financial roots. Refusing to give up, he said, “If necessary, I can release my movies for free instead of yielding to my rivals.”

Kalyan, also popular as PK among his fans, even declared that if his outfit, the Jana Sena Party, forms the government in Andhra, people would be able to watch his movies for free.

If necessary, I can release my movies for free instead of yielding to my rivals.

PK’s outburst is a pointer to the fact that vendetta politics in Andhra Pradesh has spilled over to the film industry. The dirty duel is being played out in the open.

Caste war and vendetta politics

The Jagan government’s twin decisions–to introduce online ticket booking and reduce ticket rates—are being viewed as an attempt to target the two dominant castes, Kammas and Kapus, in the film industry.

Both these groups have been calling the shots in the Telugu film industry for a long time. While Kammas is represented by N Chandrababu Naidu, Kapu is the caste group to which Pawan Kalyan belongs. Not to forget, both Naidu and Kalyan are Jagan Reddy’s political rivals.

Jagan Reddy’s move is being seen by many as a way to keep his political rivals in check.

More than 70 per cent of Telugu film industry, which includes production, acting, directing, distribution and screening, is under the monopoly of a handful of big families from the two communities. Allu Aravind, Pawan’s brother-in-law is a producer, distributor and exhibitor.

His two sons Allu Arjun and Sirish are leading actors. Mega star Chiranjeevi and actor Nagendra Babu are Pawan Kalyan’s brothers. Chiranjeevi’s son Ram Charan is also a leading actor. Interestingly, Pawan challenged Jagan in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
On the other hand Nandamuri Balakrishna is Naidu’s brother-in-law and TDP’s MLA from Hindupur.

Cherukuri Ramoji Rao, another pro-Naidu media baron-cum-film producer, like Allu Aravind, has brought a single umbrella for film production. Under the banner of Usha Kiran Movies, Rao is into the movie distribution business through Mayuri Distributors, sale of audio rights through Mayuri Audio platform, apart from running a chain of theatres on lease.

Jagan wants to break this monopoly to ensure a level-playing field.

“More than 70 per cent of the film production cost goes towards remuneration for the top heroes. The fees for top-rated heroes such as Pawan Kalyan and Prabhas ranges from Rs 50 crore to Rs 100 crore. It is unfair,” film critic Rangavajhula Bharadhwaj told The Federal.

Changing dynamics

The Telugu film industry at the time of its inception in the 1900s was under the influence of Brahmins.

Later, Reddys made forays with legends like Hanumappa Muniyappa Reddy, BN Reddy and KV Reddy helming production and technical fields. Later, Kammas from the coastal Andhra regions, with the surplus income accrued from the green revolution in the 1960s, made their way into the film industry. This was followed by the entry of Kapus representing Allu Ramalingaiah, his son Allu Aravind and son-in-law Chiranjeevi.

The movie industry, with roots in Andhra region and nestled in Hyderabad, even six years after the state’s bifurcation, keeps the business of film shooting Telangana-centric. Despite drawing over 70 per cent of its revenue from Andhra Pradesh, the state was never a top priority for industry captains. It is well known that the bigwigs of the Telugu film industry rather owe their allegiance to the ruling class in Telangana.

“Most ignored Jagan and failed to even pay him a customary visit after he came to power. They even displayed their contempt for Jagan by choosing to not even present before him their wishlist for the newly elected government on behalf of the industry,” Natti Kumar, film producer and a Jagan supporter, told The Federal.

The clamour to end this monopoly of some over Telugu cinema has already begun.

“It’s high time for decentralisation. Film shooting should also move out of Hyderabad. There are beautiful locations in Uttarandhra, south coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions. If the shooting is evenly distributed, a portion of tax revenues will go to Andhra also,” Kumar said.

Although the Andhra region separated from Madras Province and was carved out as a linguistic state in 1953, the Telugu film industry remained in Chennai for a long time. Following efforts by Marri Chenna Reddy and Bhavanam Venkatram Reddy as Congress chief ministers in the 1970s and NT Rama Rao as the TDP chief minister in the 1990s, the film industry shifted its base from Chennai to Hyderabad gradually. Akkineni Nageswara Rao was an early bird who moved to Hyderabad much early to start his own studio named Annapurna Studios.

Coming back to the current conundrum, the Andhra Pradesh government has cracked the whip on movie exhibitors who have been charged with screening movies in violation of the government rules.

Denying the charge of vendetta being unleashed against the movie industry by the government, minister Perni Venkataramaiah said as many as 130 theatres were found guilty of violation of guidelines while 80 of them were sealed. “Most of the theatres even lacked fire safety certificates,” he said.

In the government’s defence, Venkataramaiah said the fact that Jagan Reddy himself owns two popular theatres (in Vijayawada) and his uncle also has a cinema theatre in Kadapa, the chief minister is not completely oblivious to the issues of the exhibitors.

The exhibitors, the government claims, failed to ensure uniform ticket rates. There have been instances when even Rs 1,000 has been charged as ticket price for big releases but the same is not reflected in the government’s tax collections.

The government should get a net revenue of Rs 2,000 crore in the form of entertainment tax and GST from 1,100 theatres in Andhra Pradesh. But the actual collections failed to cross Rs 300 crore for any given year, sources in the film industry said.

As a mark of protest against the government’s move, many exhibitors have shut down their cinemas halls. The exhibitors claim that Covid restrictions and growing popularity of OTT platforms has already hit the business hard and they cannot bear to survive if the government order is implemented in toto.

The government should get a net revenue of Rs 2,000 crore in the form of entertainment tax and GST from 1,100 theatres in Andhra Pradesh. But the actual collections failed to cross Rs 300 crore for any given year, sources in the film industry said.

“The footfall for theatrical releases drastically fell in view of the changing preferences of the audience [for OTT] and Covid-induced problems. As a result, most theatres across the state have turned into function halls, rice mills. Some of them even turned into shopping complexes,” a theatre owner said.

The new order, he added, has only increased our hardship.