Cinema Halls To Remain Closed In September

For  the  Indian film industry reeling under  the  impact  of the Covid 19, the hope that movie theatres  will be re-opened  in September  had  been dashed  to the ground.

 Phase 4  of  the  Unlock directive  from the Ministry  Of Home  Affairs  which offers many added  reliefs  in  non-containment zones, clearly states that  cinema halls shall continue  to remain closed in September.

However  the Directive  also states that drive-in movie  theatres would be permitted to open from 21^st September. Sadly the  drive-in  movie culture is  almost non-existent  in India . Hence this  SOP has  no or little relevance  for   the crisis-ridden movie-theatre business in India.

Says  Shekhar  Kapur,  “Drive-in theatres could make a comeback as they are in the rest of the world. I  don’t think theatres  will fully open for another year. And  if they are to follow rules of social distancing, the theatres will sell less tickets. So the days of multi-crore theatrical  boxoffice  in one week  or weekend are over. I’m afraid, the film industry, like other industries, is facing huge losses.We don’t know yet how many film workers, theatrical workers, were part of the unorganised labour sector, so even completing films maybe an issue.Except there are OTT platforms of course , but with completely lower price models.”