KOCHI: As part of its effort to make a more transparent system, the Kerala State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC), with the Kerala Film Producers Association, will introduce e-ticketing system in the state. With the reopening of the theatres after nearly 10-months-long lockdown, the state government is under tremendous pressure to introduce an e-ticketing system which would make the existing system more transparent and help local bodies and producers know the exact collections from films.
The new system, which is likely to come into effect ahead of the upcoming assembly poll, will also help the government in bringing regulations on the existing private ticketing platforms that charge huge internet handling charges for movie tickets. Many theatres in the state collect `20 to `35 per ticket as handling fee.
KSFDC is also planning to introduce a platform which proposes the integration of private reservation agencies. Maya N, managing director of KSFDC, told TNIE that the proposal is under the consideration of the state government. She said the system would enable the government to monitor the GST collection and exact number of tickets sold in the state.
“We have proposed the state government to appoint KSFDC as the nodal agency for the project. We will be developing a mobile application soon and all other private platforms will be integrated into ours. We are expecting the nod from the state government anytime,” said Maya. She added that the private movie booking platforms are charging a lot per ticket as online handling charges.
“We want to give an alternative for the public as we are planning to charge only the running cost as additional fee per ticket. Right now people do not have a choice. E-ticketing is an ambitious scheme of the state government and the Information Kerala Mission (IKM) has developed one. As per the scheme, the booking of movie tickets can be done only through the government platform. The plan is to develop this system on the lines of IRCTC. We have submitted a proposal to the state government,” said Maya.
President of the Kerala Film Producers Association M Renjith said, “We want the government to issue the order before the assembly elections. The government was very positive about our proposal and we want the authorities to make it official very soon. This system is going to benefit all stakeholders equally. The producers are unable to know the response to their film because there is no system for real time monitoring. Also, we will be able to learn the trend and make interventions to woo more audiences,” said Renjith.