As India moves towards flattening the coronavirus curve, the Indian economy has also started showing signs of recovery. Now with India’s decision to gradually unlock the restrictions, placed earlier to manage the COVID-19 situation in the country, all the sectors of the Indian Economy have come back on track. But the world of cinema is still struggling to stand back on its feet.
Recently, on January 27, the Centre released the guidelines to permit the opening of cinema halls and theatres at a higher capacity than the 50% seating strength allowed till now. This comes up as a ray of Hope for Cinema Hall owners and the theatre companies because even after allowing the reopening of movie theatres months back, hall owners haven’t been able to cope up with their draining losses.
The Cinema theatres reopened in parts of India from October 15 under “Unlock 5.0”, after seven months of shutdown. Nearly 10,000 theatres in India closed in mid-March when the government imposed restrictions to fight the virus, then later the guidelines issued in December, permitted the cinema halls to have 50% capacity.
But even since then, there is a minimal footfall in the theatres, people are not willing to turn up, as there are several restrictions and the fear of contracting the virus remains prevalent.
There are many other reasons for the trailing growth of this sector- one of which is the widespread use of OTT platforms. During the lockdown, when people were restricted to stay inside, they heavily depended on OTT platforms to entertain them. Not just this, even movie producers chose to release their movies on OTT platforms, rather than waiting for the reopening of theatres.
Bunny Singh, owner of Rangmahal Theatres, Bhopal said, “People are not coming to theatres, even after theatres have reopened because there are no new releases, producers aren’t ready to release the movie on the big screen until theatres have become fully functional again. Most theatre owners, including me, have shut theatres down because we were not able to manage our expenses.”
Talking about the revised guidelines, Singh added, “ Even as the centre has declared to reopen the theatres with more than 50% capacity but, it is not clear as to how much more than 50%, – is it 80%, 90%, or 100%, we are waiting for state govt’s advisory to bring some clarity.”
“We haven’t received regular footfall at theatres, as it was there earlier. People were showing up, but in limited numbers, because, no Bollywood movies are being released till now, we are getting fewer movies currently, most of the movies are being released on OTT platforms only. The last movie that went Housefull was a south-Indian movie, ‘Vijay Ji Master,’ ” Explained Yogesh, an executive at PVR cinemas, Delhi.
“Occupancy is there, but it can nowhere be compared to the pre-covid times. Recently Madam Chief Minister was released last week, but it didn’t see much traction, not many people turned up for the movie,” Added Yogesh.
Apart from this, while talking to Mohit Dhamija, a movie aficionado, we got to know that he, as a viewer, will prefer to watch the latest movie on his laptop/ TV set, in his comfort zone only.
Dhamija said, “ It is more preferable to watch movies on OTT platforms rather than going to the theatre because this ensures one’s safety as well as comfort. I don’t have to worry about anything, OTT is more affordable and I have many options to switch on. During the lockdown, I have become so comfortable on these platforms that I don’t even subscribe to my TV cable now, everything is available on my phone/ laptop.”
The movie experience is unparalleled and the OTT experience has caught on during the lockdown. But cinema owners are still hoping that things will change in the months to come.