Cinema theatres come back to life again with Covid-19 guidelines on physical distancing, check details

Good news for movie goers! After an embargo of close to seven months due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the cinema halls in the country will come to life from today onwards. According to the unlock guidelines issued by the Central government, the cinema halls will be allowed to function from October 15 with adequate social distancing guidelines. Among the major guidelines that are to be strictly followed by the management of the cinema halls is not to breach the cap on 50 percent occupancy of the cinema halls. Below are the guidelines issued by the central government for cinema goers as well as the theatre operators.

COVID-19 guidelines: Inside theatre

The cinema halls are to function on only half of their seating capacity.

One seat will be kept vacant between two persons in the cinema halls.

Vacant seat to be compulsorily tagged with “Not to be occupied”, according to the guidelines shared by the Press Information Bureau (PIB).

All the people will have to keep their face mask on throughout the entire duration of the film.

Operators of cinema halls have been advised to keep the temperature of the hall fixed at 23 degree celsius.

Proper ventilation in the hall is mandated to avoid the spread of the infection.

Guidelines for Theatre Entry

Mandatory thermal screening of all customers at the entry gate has been made mandatory. Only those individuals who are asymptomatic and have no visible symptoms of the disease will be let in while those exhibiting any related symptom will not be given entry into the cinema hall.

The hustle bustle and the rush of crowd usually seen at the end of the film or during the quick recess will be a thing of the past as cinema operators have been instructed to have staggered timing of the movie shows to avoid crowding at the entry and exit gates.

Wary of unruly scenes at the ticket counters especially during the film show of popular film stars, the government has instructed the cinema hall operators to have adequate number of ticket counters so that tickets can be sought in a seamless manner.

General guidelines

The government has also advised the operators to keep the ticket counters open round the clock and promote advance booking of the shows.

Advice has also been rendered to the customers to avoid frequent visits outside the hall during the intermission of the film.

The government has also recommended the use of the Aarogya Setu application by all cinema goers in addition to an advisory to use cashless modes of transaction for the hall tickets.

All customers have been advised against spitting outside or inside the premises of the cinema halls.

Which states are opening Cinema halls

Most state governments have allowed the opening of theatres from October 15 in accordance with the central government guidelines including the Delhi government, West Bengal government, Uttar Pradesh among others. However, Maharashtra which is wary of the Covid situation going out of hands is playing a little cautious and has not allowed the opening of the theatre until the end of this month.

With several films having already been released on the Over The Top (OTT) platforms, the cinema operators are expected to re-release the same set of films on the bigger screen. Also, many cinema halls are looking ahead at releasing the films of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput who allegedly committed suicide earlier this year at his Mumbai flat.