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Sambhar Mafia - Cooked To Kill!

Friday, April 15, 2005

Why this disparity?

The Blogosphere is full of news, views and reviews of the latest releases in Kollywood (Sachien, Chandramukhi, Mumbai Xpress). Every alternate blogger seems to have seen one of these movies (either the preview or first day). I’ll be seeing Mumbai Xpress tonight. News reports in The Hindu indicate that ticket prices in Tamilnadu are at an all time high.

Chandramukhi ticket prices

When I was drifting thru the local newspapers I realized that Chandramukhi was priced at an atrociously high price of S$15. In sharp contrast Mumbai Xpress and Sachien were priced at the usual S$10. Normally Tamil movies in Singapore are priced between S$8 & S$10 depending on the popularity of the star (English movies are also priced around this figure). Are the distributors (Ayngaran International) right in pricing Chandramukhi at a 50% premium over the other movies? People who have stayed in Singapore for a longer period tell me that BABA was also priced similarly. Lazygeek had mentioned that Chandramukhi was priced at US$ 12 (some of my friends tell me that this is on the higher side). Why should we pay exorbitant rates for seeing movies which cost less the cost of an average Hollywood movie? The distributors might sight the reason as limited audience. I don’t think this argument holds good.


Pricing of Cricket Matches

These pricing anomalies can be extended to the pricing of Cricket telecasts in Singapore and the US. Cable operators (SCV in Singapore and Dish Network in the US) charge a hefty amount on a per tournament basis. Even EPL Football costs a fraction of the price of the Cricket subscription. Cricket hungry desis don’t mind these high charges and sign up for every other tournament. Given the inelasticity of demand, Cable Operators are laughing their way to the bank. These are the modern means by which we are getting cheated.

3 Comments:

  • simple logic.. if u set a high price for 'some' movie, ppl wd stay away.. but in case of Super Star's movie, there are ppl who wd want to watch it at 'any cost'.

    By Blogger Chakra, at 11:03 PM  

  • I dont think there is any cheating really involved. I think it is just simple economics of supply and demand. If you do feel so strongly about being cheated, you wouldnt see the movie now, would you? :)
    You would wait until the rates came down.So if everyone does that, the rate comes down quickly.

    By Blogger Bibs, at 12:07 AM  

  • As BIBS has said, it is simple logic of economics. Just reap the benefits when the condition is better.

    2/3 years back, I was in the middle of a conversation between my friend and the "Ayngaran Distbtrs" owner. He was exclaiming at that time, as to how he was going to recover his cost of 100,000 S$ for "kannathil muthamittal". The reason is that there were few no. of heads during that show.

    As we know, Film distribution is similar to "fruits / vegetables" business.. only thing is that the stakes are high.

    By Blogger Ram C, at 1:52 AM  

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