A record number of people in India thronged to movie theaters on Friday to mark National Cinema Day. Due to the discounted tickets, Rs 75, an estimated 6.5 million moviegoers attended their local multiplexes, making September 23 the highest-attended date of the year for theatres, as per the Multiplex Association of India (MAI). While the average rate of movie tickets swings between Rs 450-500 today, there was a time when people payed only Rs 2 to watch Madhubala and Dilip Kumar’s Mughal-e-Azam. Released in 1960 at the Maratha Mandir Theatre in Mumbai, a large audience visited the theaters.
Next we move onto the movie Pakeezah, starring Meena Kumari and Raaj Kumar. The craze of fans outside the theater was also worth watching during the screening of this 1972 film. The tickets of Pakeezah were sold for Rs 3.
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Owing to the steady rise in inflation, the ticket prices also witnessed a hike. It went onto to be Rs 4.95, then Rs. 6 and Rs. 7. Today, the moviegoers have to shell out money between Rs. 250-500, depending on the screen as well as the show timing.
On National Cinema Day, which was celebrated on September 23 this year, the tickets were available at a price of Rs 75 as theater owners marked the successful reopening of cinemas. The one-day-only discount was available at more than 4,000 participating theatres.
The pandemic and popularity of OTT platforms have surely hurt the movie business. However, the success of movies like Tom Cruise starrer Top Gun: Maverick, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Minions: The Rise of Gru, and Thor: Love and Thunder has given theatre owners hope that gradually the business will come back on the tracks.
