VIJAYAWADA: There is no more waiting to watch a new movie on the first day of its release while sitting at home. ‘First Day-First Show’, an innovative programme will be launched by the Minister for Industries, Gudivada Amarnath, in Visakhapatnam on Friday.
With this, as many as 8 lakh subscribers of Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Ltd. (APSFL) will be able to watch new movies in their homes. ‘Nirikshan’ will be the first movie that the subscribers can watch today. The viewers will have to purchase 24 hours subscription for Rs 99 and the same amount will be shared on a 50-50 basis between APSFL and the producers.
In connection to this move by government, producers, theatre owners and subscribers have expressed mixed opinions. Speaking to TNIE, Chairman of Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Limited (APSFL) Dr P Gautam Reddy said, “We approached the producer council and they expressed their willingness to release the movies on Fibernet. Many movies are not released in the theatres. This will be useful for producers, viewers and APSFL.”
Dr Reddy asserted that the programme would be more useful in rural areas as the fiber net connectivity is nearly 6.5 lakhs. He also assured that the theatre owners need not worry about the footfall and made it clear that the film will be screened only after the producers’ acceptance. “Producers can also approach us to upload the movies,” he added.
Responding to the move of the government, a Bengali film producer, Chaitanya Janga from Vijayawada, said that the decision of the government will be providing a platform for the small producers, who are unable to showcase their films at theatres as they are being blocked by some producers. “The move will give moral support to those producing low-budget films,” he asserted.
VS Varma, a Hindi film producer from Hyderabad, said,”The high-budget movie producers will not come forward to release their movies on fibre net. On the other hand, the low-budget movies barely get any viewership via online platforms. We have to wait and watch the response from both the public as well as the producers.”
Meanwhile, Adusumilli Sriram, a theatre owner from Vijayawada, said the move will barely have any impact on the theatres. He said, “The viewers know which movie to watch on which platform. The pan-India release of certain movies will get money only via the theatres.”