Ahead of 'Bangarraju' release, Nagarjuna reacts to Andhra Pradesh theatre ticket pricing issue

With two pan-Indian films  'RRR' and 'Radhe Shyam' getting postponed, Telugu superstar Nagarjuna Akkineni has decided to release his Telugu film 'Bangarraju' on January 14, 2022, coinciding with the Sankranthi festival. The supernatural drama film also stars Ramya Krishna, Kriti Shetty, and his own son Naga Chaitanya in lead roles.  'Bangarraju' is a prequel to Nagarjuna's super successful Telugu film 'Soggade Chinni Nayana' released in 2016.

During the pre-release event of the film, a journalist asked the actor his opinion on Andhra Pradesh's government decision to cap ticket prices in the theatre across the state. Initially, the actor said that he has no issues with the pricing as far as his movies are concerned, and when he was asked again, he refused to comment on the political issue.

As per a News18 report, Nagarjuna was quoted saying, “I have no issues. If tickets were priced higher, we’d make some more money. But I don’t have any issues as far as my movie is concerned." When he was questioned again, he was quoted saying, "I refuse to comment on political issues, as this is a movie-related event. I can only talk about ‘Bangarraju’ movie and related things here”, as per the same report.

For the unversed, Andhra Pradesh government, in April 2021, had issued an order fixing slabs for ticket prices in cinemas across the state from as low as Rs 5 to the maximum amount of Rs 250. Many actors including Chiranjeevi and Nani have expressed their opinions on the same. In November 2021, Chiranjeevi had issued a statement on his Twitter account appealing the Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to consider hiking ticket prices in the interest of filmmakers. In December 2021, while promoting his latest release 'Shyam Singha Roy', Nani had said that the decision is simply illogical and insulting for the audience.