HYDERABAD/NALGONDA: The special chief secretary (home) was left in an uncomfortable situation on Friday with the Telangana High Court expressing its displeasure at the repeated issuance of GOs permitting the hiking of ticket rates for the film Akhanda-2, and Cinematography Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy stating that the latest GO was released without his knowledge.
The minister told reporters in Madgulapally of Nalgonda district that he was unaware of the GO as he was busy campaigning for the panchayat elections. He said he had called the home secretary and requested that representations from any directors or producers regarding a movie ticket rate hike should not be accepted and that there should be no further increase in movie ticket rates.
Earlier in the day, Justice NV Shravan Kumar expressed displeasure over the GOs allowing the ticket price hike and questioned how the official could repeatedly issue such orders despite the court suspending the enhanced ticket prices earlier. The authorities were bound to implement court orders, the judge said, expressing shock at the repeated violations.
Subsequently, Justice Shravan Kumar made the observation while hearing a batch of three writ petitions challenging the latest government memo that allowed the hike in cinema ticket prices.
During the hearing, the government pleader informed the court that the impugned memo permitting increased ticket rates had been suspended by the special chief secretary, and placed a note to that effect before the bench.
Further, counsel for BookMyShow submitted that the court’s orders had been communicated to all theatres screening the film. Turning to counsel, the judge directed that the sale of enhanced-priced tickets must stop immediately, cautioning that continuing to sell such tickets would amount to contempt of court.
However, counsel for the petitioners informed the bench that on Friday, theatres continued to screen Akhanda-2 with enhanced ticket prices despite the court’s earlier directions.
Finally, after hearing all parties, the court directed issuance of notices to the respondents and posted the batch of petitions for further hearing on January 9, 2026.
Court allows hike in Akhanda-2 ticket prices
In a major relief to the makers and distributors of Akhanda-2, a division bench of the Telangana High Court on Friday suspended the order passed by a single judge, restraining theatres from collecting enhanced ticket prices. The bench, comprising Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya and Justice Gadi Praveen Kumar, permitted the movie’s producers and distributors to charge enhanced price per ticket for the next three days, starting December 12, 2025.
While suspending the single judge’s directive, Justice Bhattacharya observed that no prejudice would be caused to the petitioners in the three writ petitions pending before the single judge. She noted that the issue did not fall under the ambit of a public interest litigation. “A person who can afford to watch the film by paying enhanced will watch it, and others will not,” the bench remarked.
Contempt proceedings dropped
In another key development, the division bench also dropped contempt proceedings initiated against the Special Chief Secretary (General), Home department, and the management of BookMyShow. The petitioners had sought contempt action for allegedly failing to prevent theatres from selling tickets at enhanced price on Thursday despite the Single Judge’s order suspending the government memo that had enhanced ticket prices.