Sudarshan Theatre Owner Slams Miscreants For Dampening Fans' Spirit During Re-release

With reports about vandalism in Sudarshan 35 mm theatre, one of the most popular theatres in RTC crosswords, making rounds, theatre owner Balgovind Raj Tadla ruled out vandalism during the show of Prabhas starrer ‘Yogi’ yesterday night. “It was work of a few disgruntled men but everything was under control,” he says and adds, “Few people who were drunk wanted to get on to the stage close to the big screen to dance but our security and some fans halted them from doing so to avoid any damage to the big screen,” he informs. Later, when the show of Prabhas’s action film ended, the said miscreants found some crates of empty bottles lying there and they took them and smashed them down on the floor to create ruckus. “Luckily, no one was hurt and there wasn’t much damage caused to the theatre, so it wasn’t vandalism as reported,” he informs.

Actually, the same theatre faced some issues during the release of Mahesh Babu’s ‘Businessman’ last week but it wasn’t serious too. “We faced the issue of overcrowding for that film but fortunately no other mischief. We managed to handle the surging crowds without any issues thereafter,” adds Tadla. In fact, he has hired special bouncers to tackle crowds and fan frenzy in his theatre during re-release of superstar films. "We have been hiring between five to 15 bouncers to provide additional security during star-studded films and managed to keep things under control,” he informs. He would be spending Rs 5000 per bouncer and it would be costing him Rs 50,000 to 70,000 for each re-release.

Nonetheless, he feels that re-releases are good for the theatre business since it has revived their hopes about footfalls in theatres. “Re-releases of star movies have revived our hopes and encouraged us to screen more movies. We were worried about audiences skipping theatres to enjoy movies on digital space, but big stars brought back the crowds and gave our single theatres a new lease of life,” he concludes.