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Hrithik soars ticket prices to record high

You could get 10 Chicken Mcgrill burgers, six Mama Mia! Fro Yos, a pretty kurti from Pantaloons or... a ticket for Kites this weekend as the price tag soars like a, well, kite.For the first time since multiplexes set up box office here seven years ago, the city cine goer will have to cough up more than Rs 300 for a ticket for Friday’s Bollywood biggie, touted as the hottest release this season.

“Kites is one of the biggest films of the year and the interest generated has been huge. A Hrithik Roshan release after two years justifies this kind of a price,” says Rishi Negi, the chief operating officer of Fame Cinemas, which has priced its silver class tickets in South City at Rs 310.

A Kites watch at the plex’s plush gold class audi will cost Rs 550, the highest that Calcutta has seen so far. “We have observed that the Calcutta audience has the potential and the willingness to pay. Ever since we opened two years ago, our gold class shows have been the fastest-selling and Kites should be no different,” adds Negi.

So, dig deep into your pockets and fish out a fistful of notes if you are to feast your eyes on Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori romancing the sun-kissed beaches of Mexico this Friday. That’s the message from INOX Forum, the city’s oldest multiplex, too.

“There has been a lull for a long time and everyone is looking forward to watching a big Bollywood film like Kites,” says Virendra Marya, the regional director of INOX, confirming that the ticket price will cross the Rs 300 mark for the first time this weekend. “The audience in Calcutta is always on the lookout for good cinema and they don’t really pay too much attention to the price. The queries so far have been extremely good,” he adds.

With a trip to the plexes for a big Bollywood film figuring high on the list of entertainment options, Calcutta is happy to shed its price-sensitive tag for a Shah Rukh, Aamir or Hrithik. “If the audience paid Rs 290 for a 3 Idiots ticket, we see no reason why they wouldn’t want to pay just Rs 20 more for a huge film like Kites,” says Mahendra Soni of Shree Venkatesh Films, the regional distributors of the Anurag Basu movie.

“With the industry facing a box- office lull for months, the hike in rates was essential to enable the producer, distributor and exhibitor to make some money. We are pretty sure that the audience will get its full value for money with Kites,” adds Soni.

No wonder even the Rajarhat-located Bioscope, which opened last month with the promise of a ticket for “no more than Rs. 75”, has been forced to up its rates for some Kites shows to Rs 100. “We have had to bow to the pressures of the market,” concedes Arijit Dutta.

Tickets at Big Cinemas are going at Rs 200, the highest that the Sector V plex has recorded in its two years.

Though advance bookings will only open on Wednesday, plexes maintain that the rush for corporate bookings and paid preview tickets has been “tremendous”.

But will the film be worth the pocket pinch? Says Mumbai-based trade analyst Taran Adarsh: “Bollywood’s first true international project and the Hrithik-Barbara chemistry in the promos make Kites one of the hottest films of the year. People will throng the theatres, no matter what the price, at least in the first weekend.”

Tolly star June will be one of those. “Being a Hrithik fan, I wouldn’t mind paying upwards of Rs 300 for a ticket. It’s better than watching the film on a pirated DVD later.”

-Telegraph India

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