₹500 tickets, zero paperwork in sight
Reports attributed a September 20 Telangana Home Department memo to The Paradise ticket hikes. The High Court then questioned the timing and legal basis. The memo itself remains missing from the public record consulted.
The reported ticket hike had a special show; the paperwork did not.
Reports attributed a September 20 Telangana Home Department memo to permission for a ₹500 special screening of Nani-starrer The Paradise on September 23, ahead of its reported September 24 release. The reported price included GST.
The same reports attributed further temporary hikes to the memo: ₹48 for single screens and ₹95 for multiplexes and special theatres from September 24 to 27, followed by ₹23 and ₹45, respectively, from September 28 to October 3. The reports named M/s Sri Lakshmi Venkateswara Cinemas LLP as the producer-applicant and Shikha Goel as the reported signatory.
The Telangana High Court later questioned why permission was issued on September 20 for enhanced prices beginning three days later, saying the memo was prima facie bereft of reasons and appeared to conflict with earlier directions. Another report said the court directed reconsideration and withdrawal; the court order itself was not available in the material consulted. The government has not publicly answered the questions identified in these reports, and the memo remains absent. Even the reported welfare contribution cannot survive the paperwork: one report says ₹1 crore, another prints ₹1,00,000 and calls it one crore. The ticket hike had a special show. The accountability record did not.