COVID-19: Cinema hall owners in Mysuru decide to voluntarily down shutters from April 23

MYSURU: At a time when the state government has kept everyone guessing over announcing tough rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19 amidst a huge spike in cases, cinema hall owners in Mysuru have decided to voluntarily down shutters from April 23.

Confirming this, M R Rajaram, owner of Gayathri Talkies, who is also the vice president of the film exhibitors’ federation, said that over 35 theatres in the district have decided to close citing the spread of COVID-19.

“This is a small step in fulfilling our social responsibility towards controlling the rampant spread of COVID-19 during the second wave and also to safeguard our workers and audience against it. We are doing this to support the government in controlling the virus and almost all cinema theatres in Mysuru city, Nanjangud, KR Nagar and other towns and villages across the district have decided to close down from April 23,” he said.

He further added that a few theatres that are adhering to the guidelines with 50% occupancy and three shows might also take a call to close down once the collection drops.

Members of the public have welcomed the decision of cinema theatre owners and said it is heartening to see them contributing for this cause in whatever way they can. “When the government is still in a dilemma on taking strict rules to contain the spread, cinema theatre owners have taken a bold step and stood as an example to many other stakeholders who can do their bit in bringing down COVID-19 cases and help in bringing the pandemic situation towards normalcy,” said Puneeth, a resident.