Some heroes and fans may sound high about records of their films, but many records created by legendary Akkineni Nageswara Rao’s “Premaabhishekam” directed by Dasari, are still unbroken. And a tale related to that film will surely give you goosebumps.
That was 1981. At the then newly constructed Sri Kalpana theatre in Eluru, West Godavari District, has screened the film “Premabhishekam” which got a terrific talk from Day One itself. The film ran for 253 days with 3 shows daily (back then there is no morning show). And then a fan, who happens to be a Banana vendor running a roadside shop, watched the film every day, Second Show. That was the love for cinema then, of course, as there are no other means of entertainment.
Theatre owners finally identified this guy who is watching the film for nearly 9 months and honoured him with a huge garland, a Saluva and Rs 1116/- (Veyyi Noota Padaharlu) as a gift. At that time, Bench ticket is around 1 rupee 50 paise. (Nela, Bench, Chair and Balcony are the four categories) and he used to watch daily on that ticket.
Kalpana Theatre is non-existing today as the theatre ran into losses, the owners sold the place to a real estate developer couple of years ago. Cut to the fan, there are no such fans these days who could take out time every day to watch the same movie in a theatre for 250+ days. And even if fans are willing to watch, films are not running for much longer time. That’s the irony!!
Also, we have to say, some audiences are finding tough to watch films repeatedly due to increased ticket rates and some are not watching films more than once as present-day movies are not having such repeat value.
Recent Random Post:
