After reports which claimed that single screen theatres are hiking the price for Mahesh Babu's Maharshi by 20%, the Telangana Cinematography Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav was quick to issue a press statement on Tuesday clarifying that the government has not given any permission to the theatre owners to increase the ticket prices. The film is releasing on Thursday, May 9.

The minister in the statement said, “There are many reports that the government has given permission to increase the prices of tickets for single screens from Rs 80 to Rs 110 and Rs 138 to Rs 200 in multiplexes. However, there is no truth in these reports.”

“There has been no such precedence where the government allowed a price hike in Telangana, please don't believe in those reports,” the statement added.

However, theatre owners do not require the government's permission as they have a High Court order, which allows them to hike the ticket rates.

The Hyderabad High Court on January 3, 2018 had issued an interim order allowing the theatre owners to hike the prices of tickets until the governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh decided on fixing the rates.

Previously, the Court had asked the state governments to frame the guidelines and scientific parameters on how they would fix the prices by March 30, 2017. However, as both governments remained unresponsive, the Court had taken note of their attitude and given permission to the theatre owners to increase the rates.

Armed with this order, theatre owners have been hiking the price of tickets for big film releases in Andhra Pradesh, and are trying to emulate the same in Telangana for Maharshi.

According to the film's producer Venkata Ramana Reddy, they are planning  to hike the ticket prices only in single screen theatres, which will improve the opening collections of the film.

He told The New Indian Express, “This trend is followed in Andhra Pradesh, and we will now follow it in Telangana, increasing the cost of tickets from Rs 80 to Rs 100, and from Rs 100 to Rs 125, as it is a big-budget film. This will only be applicable for single screen theatres.”

Speaking to TNM, the film's PRO, Vamsi Kaka said, “What the minister said is true. They haven’t given permission to increase the ticket prices, but we don’t require it, we have the High Court order. For big film releases, theatre owners usually charge 20% extra for the first five days in Andhra Pradesh. The same system will be followed in Telangana too.”

Maharshi is Mahesh Babu’s 25th film. The film stars Pooja Hegde, Allari Naresh, Prakash Raj, Jayasudha among others. The film has reportedly been made with a budget of Rs 100 crores.