Bringing in some weekend cheer for the people of Chennai, Abirami theatres has become the first multiplex to drop convenience charges on online booking of movie tickets from Friday. 

The convenience charge for online booking of tickets is about Rs. 36. 

“There are no convenience charges on the booking of movie tickets online from Friday. I’m doing it at my own cost and it is going to be expensive for me but I’m doing it for the public,” said Abirami Ramanathan, President of Tamil Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) and owner of Abirami cinemas.

He also said that he is trying this on an experimental basis.

“Now, the films (that are running currently) are very mediocre and I’m trying this on an experimental basis for one or two weeks,” added Abirami Ramanathan.

The news comes days after the Tamil Film Producers' Council (TFPC) announced that they are planning to start their own service to manage online booking of movie tickets under which the convenience fee may come down to Rs 10 from Rs. 30.

Asked about the Producers' Council’s initiative, Abirami Ramanathan said, “Why don’t the producers try to reduce the charges of the artist? There is a huge amount that they are losing because of paying huge money to the artists."

TFPC president Vishal had said that they were planning to start this initiative to attract more people to the theatres and that they had taken this decision considering the newly implemented Goods and Services Tax (GST). 

Theatre associations in the state had called for a strike right after the GST came into effect. However, the Producers' Council had issued a statement that they were not in a position to support the strike. Subsequently, the theatre associations called off the strike last week. 

Since then, theatres in Tamil Nadu have been charging GST over and above the original price of the ticket. This move was made despite no formal change to a Government Order that states that the minimum price for a ticket in Tamil Nadu should be Rs.10 and the maximum should be Rs.120.