Ticket machines in all theatres by March

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Minister for Cinema K B Ganesh Kumar said here on Wednesday that the State Government would enforce the usage of ticket machines in all theatres by March 1. He was speaking after receiving the report prepared by the State Government-appointed Theatre Classification Committees. The Minister said that the ticket machines would help bring uniformity of ticket fares in all theatres. The system would be implemented with the help of KELTRON. The production and maintenance of the ticket machines would be carried out by KELTRON.  He also said that the 42 theatres which secured the status of release centres would be stripped off their status owing to lack of qualification. The ineligibility of the theatres was brought to light following the inspections conducted by the Theatre Classification Committees.  He also said that after the implementation of wide release of Malayalam films and ticket machines, the business of Malayalam film industry was expected to improve by 60 per cent.  The Theatre Classification Committees were flagged off on November 20. As many as 312 out 399 theatres that function across the state were subjected to classification. The theatres which were left out include those undergoing renovations and also those refused to take part.  Based on the inspection, the theatres were classified into six: Platinum Plus, Platinum, Gold Plus, Gold, Silver Plus and Silver. As many as 15 theatres secured the Platinum-rank. Among these, Anand Theatre of Kottayam has bagged Platinum Plus rank. The other Platinum-ranked theatres are Sree Saraswathy and Sree Kaleeswary  (Kaliyikkavila), Sree Padmanabha (Thiruvananthapuram), V Trax (Kadinamkulam), Varsha Royal Suit (Anchal), Sania (Eramalloor), Padma Screen One and Two (Ernakulam), EVM (Kochi), Anna (Kolanchery), Thaalam (Vadakkanchery), PVS (Thanoor), Kavitha (Kannur), Kairali (Manchery), Aishwarya (Sultan Bathery) and Vismaya (Perinthalmanna).