T'wood mulls setting up mini theatres

HYDERABAD: In order to boost its revenues, the Telugu film industry is planning to set up mini theatres that can accommodate 60-160 people at a time in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
The Telugu Chalana Chitra Parirakshana Samithi, which was floated a few years ago, held a meeting to discuss the concept at Ramoji Film City on May 23. In fact, the Samithi consulted veteran film producer Ramoji Rao too.Another meeting will be held on June 4 at the AP Film Chamber of Commerce office at Film Nagar to finalise the proposal.
As per the plan, the mini theatre can come up in 3,800 sq ft space, including 2,400 sq ft of screening area and 1,400 sq ft for a cafeteria. The 'Cine Digital Mini Theatres', as they will be called, will have digital screening of films. In all, around 5,000 such theatres are being planned, mostly in rural areas.
"The plan is to have mini theatres at mandal offices, revenue division offices and collectorate premises. Such theatres will also come up at commercial centres in towns. This is the experiment we are mulling," said producer T Prasanna Kumar.
Both Telangana and AP government would need to allocate space for such theatres, thus giving producers and directors no cause to complain of lack of enough theatres. Samithi member Chadalavada Srinivasa Rao also pointed out the benefits to the movie-goer, who will not have to travel long distances to watch films. "If necessary, community halls can also be converted into mini theatres," he said.
As far as the economics of it is concerned, one can set up a mini theatre for Rs 20 lakh and earn back the capital in around one-and-half years. The profits would only be worked out later depending on the patronage.
The Samithi intends to provide free registration for anyone interested in being part of the mini theatre experiment. They are also encouraging people from the film fraternity to sign up.