YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government had argued that very high cinema ticket rates push ordinary viewers away from theatres and indirectly encourage piracy, and this point is now being recalled in the context of sites like iBomma. 

Ticket rates and piracy During his tenure as Chief Minister, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy pushed for a regulated, affordable ticket pricing policy in Andhra Pradesh so that cinema remained within the reach of low and middle income families. The recent bust of the iBomma/Bappam piracy network by Hyderabad Police highlighted how lakhs of viewers, unable or unwilling to pay high theatre and OTT costs, shifted to piracy portals that host new films in HD within days of release.

Jagan’s earlier intervention, The previous Andhra Pradesh government held discussions with the Telugu film industry and issued orders to cap and rationalise ticket prices, especially in smaller towns and gram panchayats, with the stated aim of protecting common audiences from steep rates. Though sections of the industry resented the move and there was legal tussle over some orders, many ordinary viewers in local neighborhoods now remember this attempt to keep movie-watching affordable. 

Current public mood is that with current ticket prices and added costs like food and online charges, large sections of the public feel that a family movie outing has become a luxury, and this sentiment is often voiced in social media debates around piracy and theatre footfalls. In this backdrop, people are drawing comparisons with YS Jagan’s earlier policy, saying that if affordable caps had continued and been refined in consultation with the industry, the incentive to visit piracy sites might have reduced. The G100 AP Political Chair Smt Sheeba Gollapalli has highlighted that the fight against piracy cannot be limited to police action alone and must include strong public awareness on the legal, ethical, and cyber safety risks of sites like iBomma.

 
She stresses that ticket prices should again be brought down to realistic levels, in the spirit of the reforms attempted in YS Jagan’s tenure, so that ordinary people can watch films legally without feeling priced out, thereby reducing the demand that fuels piracy. she also has expressed deep concern over the growing attraction towards movie piracy platforms such as iBomma. She stated that former Chief Minister Sri YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had foreseen this danger when he argued that excessive cinema ticket rates would push common people away from theatres and towards illegal websites. In his tenure, the Andhra Pradesh Government held talks with the Telugu film industry and brought in a policy to rationalise and reduce ticket prices, with the clear objective of making cinema affordable to every family and protecting the industry from the long-term damage of piracy.

Today, as authorities crack down on large-scale piracy networks causing huge losses to producers, distributors, exhibitors and thousands of workers, local communities are remembering the pro-people measures taken under YS Jagan’s leadership. Smt. Sheeba Gollapalli stated that only a combined approach can work: strict legal action on piracy networks, continuous public awareness about the financial and cyber risks of illegal sites, and a fair ticket pricing structure that does not burden ordinary viewers. She appealed to the present government and the Telugu film industry to reintroduce and strengthen affordable ticket slabs on the lines of YS Jagan’s vision, so that people can watch films in theatres and on legitimate platforms within their budget.