VIJAYAWADA: At a time when the Centre is planning to release standard operating procedures (SOPs) for reopening of single-screen movie halls in ‘Unlock 4.0’ from September 1, their owners are not willing to resume business yet citing losses incurred during lockdowns.
Vijayawada has 54 movie halls, out of which 15 are single screens. All have remained closed ever since one-day ‘Janata Curfew’ was imposed on March 22.
As the owners faced a tough time to clear bills and taxes, hundreds of employees were forced to relocate to their hometowns.
“Cinema theatres have remained shut for five months now. Without screening any film, the film exhibitors cannot clear the monthly power bills of Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1 crore,” G Rama Babu, owner of a reputed movie hall in Vijayawada, said. “A delegation of exhibitors met the chief minister on June 9, requesting him to waive off power bills incurred during lockdown. However, we are still awaiting a response.”
Absence of any big banner movie release anytime soon is another problem as occupancy of even 75 per cent causes loss to the exhibitors. Rama Babu noted that there could be some recovery of losses if the government lets go off minimum demand charges for electricity and water for the lockdown period, waives off licence fee for 2021, accord industry status to theatres and reduce GST from 12 per cent to 5 per cent.
KVV Prasad, a distributor, observed that closure of theatres has forced filmmakers to release small budget movies on OTT platforms. “Only after film shooting resume and producers finish their ongoing projects by Dasara or Sankranti can we hope that reopening movie theatres is viable.”