The Hyderabad City police state in an RTI query that the multiplexes and theatres cannot restrict movie audience from carrying their own food and water bottles to the cinema hall. This is in response to the RTI query filed by a Hyderabad-based anti-corruption activist Vijay Gopal, police clarify that no laws are prohibiting to your own carry food and water, a complaint can also be filed with the Legal Metrology Department who will look into it.
Under the Cinema Regulation Act of 1955, there are no prohibitions in letting a customer carry his own snack box or water bottles. Despite this, most multiplexes and movie halls do not allow their audience to carry food or beverages citing security breach.
Two years back, after Vijay Gopal had filed a complaint with the Hyderabad Consumer Forum, INOX multiplex was ordered to pay Rs 5,000 and extra Rs 1,000 to Vijay for charging extra on water bottles. The forum had also noted that there cannot be different MRPs for the same water bottle and notified INOX to discontinue the malpractice.
In the recent RTI response, it has been stated that single-screen theatres cannot levy a charge to any customer for providing 3D glasses. The police add that a few multiplexes are permitted to take this charge for screening 3D movies by the government.
There are absolutely no restrictions over a customer carrying their own 3D glasses to a theatre if they do not want to pay for it. Most of the single hall theatres do not provide a bill/receipt for the extra charges. Hence, a complaint about the same can be made to the legal metrology department.
The police states in the RTI response that no information of the standard ticket prices can be published on any website as it is subjected to the third-party information. Still, few theatres are allowed to collect extra charges on tickets during the time of movie releases.
The issue aggregated during the release of Mahesh Babu’s film Maharshi during which single-screen movie halls hiked the ticket prices by 20%. Telangana Cinematography Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav promptly clarified that the government had not given any permission to the theatre owners to increase the rates. In states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the government has defined price slabs, and the theatres can only charge prices according to the slab they fall into.
In the same response, it was said that the single screen/multiplexes are permitted to collect the extra amount for the first 2-3 weeks according to respective orders by the High Court. The government has not framed any rules on the price hike, and the court has allowed theatre owners to increase the rates.
