With GST implementation and decision of the Bengal government to offer rebate, online booking of Bengali films has been stopped temporarily in multiplexes though the effect has been marginal, multiplex authorities said on Tuesday.
"Since the online booking of Bengali films never crossed the double digit figure, we are not suffering the pinch post-GST roll out. Bengali films comprise a small segment of the plex market here," regional general manager of Inox Leisure Ltd, Subhasis Ganguli said.
"When you come to the box office, for the Rs 190 displayed priced ticket, you may be actually charged Rs 176 for all practical purposes and the rebate is passed to the viewer of a Bengali movie," Ganguly said explaining the new pricing formula. "But this is not immediately possible for online booking of Bengali movies and hence we stopped online booking," he said.
"We are, however, working on it to pass on the government's rebate to the Bengali film audience. We are also working with bookmyshow.com to set things in order," he said.
"In any case, ticket booking for Bengali films has never been so high from overall perspective," Ganguly pointed out. Ganguly, whose 9 Inox multiplexes have been screening recent Bengali
releases as well as Hindi and English films, said, "We had been screening content-rich good films since the GST
came into effect on July 1. And we primarily screen
Hindi films."AGENCIES