Mukta A2 Cinemas Caps Food And Beverage Prices At Rs 99 Post Karan Johar's Comments

Mukta A2 Cinemas, founded by Karz and Pardes director Subhash Ghai, announced a Rs 99 cap on all food and beverage prices to make movie outing costs more affordable for Indians. The move aims to remove one of the most common deterrents for moviegoers was revealed at the Big Cine Expo on Tuesday.

This comes after Bollywood filmmaker and Producer Karan Johar recently said that movie viewership could be down due to the high cost incurred during visits to multiplex theatres. While speaking to the Hollywood Reporter India, Johar cited a survey claiming that 90 out of 100 households could afford to visit multiplexes only twice a year.

Movie critic and film business analyst Taran Adarsh shared the news of Mukta A2 Cinemas' big move on X. It is a 'game changer' as the move aims to remove one of the most common deterrents for moviegoers, he said.

Earlier on Sept. 25, the Multiplex Association of India had expressed disappointment towards Johar's claims that a movie outing costs a family of four persons around Rs 10,000, due to inflated food and beverages costs.

The cinema operators' body said a family of four, on an average, incurred Rs 1,560 during a visit to a multiplex in 2023, which includes expenditure on food and drinks.

The multiplex body also noted that the demand for a film is "largely driven by its content and appeal, rather than by pricing alone". Cinema pricing is dynamic and flexible, and fluctuates on factors like location, day of the week, seat type, film format, and cinema format, it had said.

Mukta A2 Cinemas, owned by Mukta Arts Ltd., is currently present in 19 cities, with 57 screens in India and has an international presence with six screen multiplex in the Kingdom of Bahrain.