LUCKNOW: In a unique order, Lucknow District Magistrate Abhishek Prakash has asked over a dozen cinema halls and multiplexes to screen at least one show of a patriotic movie to mark Republic Day.
The public should be charged Rs 10 per ticket, the order said, adding that entry into the cinema halls should be allowed on the ‘first-come-first-serve’ basis keeping the COVID protocol in place.
The order has also pelt out the movies to be shown across 13 cinema halls and multiplexes including Novelty, Inox (in various malls), PVR (in various malls), Wave, Cinepolis and Fun multiplex.
The three movies to be shown across the cinema halls are Raazi, Uri-The Surgical Strike, and Mission Mangal.
Though this is the first time the district administration has issued such an order, the cinema halls in Lucknow have been practising it for years. They have been running special shows of patriotic movies on curtailed rates on Republic Day and Independence Day.
The cinema halls and the multiplexes have readily agreed to conduct the special shows as the re-opening of movie theatres already witnessing quite thin attendance due to the COVID scare. To make the matters worse, theatres hardly have any fresh content to screen.
“It is the order of the district administration and we will abide by it. Moreover, there is no problem in doing so as the intent is pure. Who will not agree to conduct special shows of movies inculcating a sense of patriotism among the public on Republic Day? We will certainly so it,” says Rajesh Tandon, owner of
Novelty MGS, having four screens in the heart of the city. Similar views were expressed by others including Akash Khatri of Inox Cinemas in the city.
When asked about the decision of getting special shows of patriotic movies run in the cinema halls, Anand Tiwari, Joint Commissioner, Commercial Tax said that the only intent behind the order was to inculcate the sense of patriotism among people.
In fact, the cinema halls and multiplexes are facing a precarious situation with almost all the new films releasing on the digital platform. “The digital platform refuses to share content with us,” said a top management team member of a multiplex chain. He added that currently, all the prominent multiplexes were running the pre-COVID movies with relatively very thin attendance. “So running special shows for the national cause is no problem at all,” he added.