I&B ministry urges central government to open cinema halls in August

Even as the lockdown in India is progressively eased, the movie halls are still shut because of the concern around coronavirus exposure.

But the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has suggested to the Union Home Ministry that cinema halls should be allowed to reopen across the country from August.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, entertainment industry was the worst-affected and had suffered some huge losses also. After movie theatres were closed, many films have been released on OTT platforms.

I&B Secretary Amit Khare took up this matter at a close-door interaction with the CII Media Committee on July 24. He said Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla at the Home Ministry would take the final decision.

Khare said that he has recommended that cinema halls may be allowed to reopen as early as August 1, or at the latest, around August 31.

He also suggested some alternative methods to maintain social distancing in Cinema halls. As per the procedure, seats in the first row and then the next row will be kept vacant, and this will proceed in this way throughout.

Khare said that his ministry’s recommendation takes into consideration the two metre social distancing norm, but tweaks it gently to two yards instead. The Home Ministry, however, is yet to respond on the recommendation.

Cinema owners, present in the interaction meanwhile is not happy with decision and termed it as unwise. According to them, running the films with only 25% auditorium capacity will result in huge losses for the industry.

The attendees at the meet included media CEOs like N.P. Singh of Sony, Sam Balsara (Madison), Megha Tata, (Discovery), Gaurav Gandhi (Amazon Prime), Manish Maheshwari (Twitter), S. Sivakumar (Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd), and K Madhavan, Star & Disney, and also Chairman, CII Media Committee.

Meanwhile multiplex giant PVR Cinemas has partnered with Dettol to create a safe hygienic movie viewing experiencing for the latter’s customers once cinema halls open, in accordance with the government guidelines and permission