Ramarao on Duty director Sarath Mandava: Stop looking at tweets, watch the film in theatres

The filmmaker minced no words about social media having a say on a film’s collections

Sarath Mandava

While Sarath Mandava has extensive experience across multiple industries in various capacities, Ramarao on Duty is his first as a director in Telugu cinema. The director has been in the news recently for the confidence with which he has been promoting his film in his interviews. He didn’t mince words even at Ramarao on Duty’s pre-release event held on Sunday.

“The first thing I want to want to do is to thank Ravi Teja. I have never done that till now, he doesn’t prefer such formalities. The trailer of Ramarao on Duty spoke volumes. The film will definitely make more noise at the theatres. I had a great experience making it,” he said.

Talking about the ‘elephant in the room’ - growing ticket prices - Sarath opined, “I’ve been hearing from many that hiked ticket prices are a reason for people not flocking theatres. I am not sure of the theory. Ramarao on Duty’s prices will be Rs 195 and Rs 150 in multiplexes and single screens in Telangana while they’ll be in the range of Rs 177 and Rs 147 in AP. These rates are fixed by the government.”

“When you book a ticket to theatres over a third-party app, you’ll lose over Rs 30 to them. Make the effort to go to theatres and buy tickets,” he added. “I’d like to extend my gratitude to assistants, crew, cinematographer Sathyan Sooryan, art director Sahi Suresh and others. It’s only because of their hard work that we have a good product today,” the filmmaker thanked his team.

“Sam CS has been a good friend for a long time now. He has done a fabulous job with the background score, get ready to be bamboozled at the theatres.” Requesting audiences to stay off social media and encourage a film, Sarath stated, “The industry will be a better place if you stop looking at tweets and watch the film in theatres. You’ll know the verdict of any film by 2 pm on Friday.”

Ramarao on Duty, produced under SLV Cinemas and RT Team Works, releases on July 29.

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