The cinema exhibition business is facing mounting losses once again with multiple states and local bodies imposing partial or full lockdown due to rising Covid-19 infections at a time when audiences had just started returning to theatres and new films are released.
“We had just about started to get the momentum back in the cinemas,” said Akshaye Rathi who owns 17 single-screen properties in Vidarbha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. “It was almost after one year of zero income and continuous expenses that we started seeing audiences returning to cinema halls and we have run into the speed breaker again.”
Maharashtra has announced a night curfew in the state, asking all the shopping malls, cinema halls and restaurants to remain shut between 8 pm and 7 am. Many theatre chains had to cancel their evening shows of ‘Roohi’ and ‘Godzilla Vs King Kong’ on Sunday because of the order.
Local bodies in Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Surat, Nagpur and Jalgaon have also asked all cinema screens to shut operations due to increasing cases.
Rathi claimed that past experiences showed that imposing any kind of lockdown on businesses has had no impact on controlling the number of cases, but only affected the economy adversely.
“Despite a strict lockdown, cases increased from 500 a day to close to 90,000,” he said. “The authorities have to understand that it’s not because cinemas or restaurants that the cases are increasing. It’s because of the people on the street who are not following protocols. They have to make people more disciplined by either incentivising or penalising. All enterprises are anyway following all the protocols.”
“We had just about started to get the momentum back in the cinemas,” said Akshaye Rathi who owns 17 single-screen properties in Vidarbha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. “It was almost after one year of zero income and continuous expenses that we started seeing audiences returning to cinema halls and we have run into the speed breaker again.”
Maharashtra has announced a night curfew in the state, asking all the shopping malls, cinema halls and restaurants to remain shut between 8 pm and 7 am. Many theatre chains had to cancel their evening shows of ‘Roohi’ and ‘Godzilla Vs King Kong’ on Sunday because of the order.
Local bodies in Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Surat, Nagpur and Jalgaon have also asked all cinema screens to shut operations due to increasing cases.
Rathi claimed that past experiences showed that imposing any kind of lockdown on businesses has had no impact on controlling the number of cases, but only affected the economy adversely.
“Despite a strict lockdown, cases increased from 500 a day to close to 90,000,” he said. “The authorities have to understand that it’s not because cinemas or restaurants that the cases are increasing. It’s because of the people on the street who are not following protocols. They have to make people more disciplined by either incentivising or penalising. All enterprises are anyway following all the protocols.”
Read More News on
Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.