CHENNAI: There will be a complete blackout in the cinema halls across the State on Tuesday, with the entire Tamil film industry announcing a silent hunger strike in Chennai to condemn the imprisonment of former Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa.
The movie halls would be closed from 9 am to 5 pm, while all shootings that have been going on in and around the city have been cancelled, said a statement from the Joint Action Committee of the State film industry on Monday.
All the major associations - South Indian Film Artistes Association, Tamil Film Producers Council, The South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce, Tamil Nadu Film Directors Association, Film Employees Federation of South India, Tamil Nadu Film Distributors Federation among others - have jointly announced the strike that would be staged at Chepauk on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, traders from six districts decided to down shutters as a symbolic protest, according to sources.
Sources said the decision to close shop was taken by the traders from the six districts of Karur, Tiruchy, Villupuram, Cuddalore, Madurai and Coimbatore. The bandh observed by the traders would last till 2 pm.
However, both retail and wholesale traders in the city said that this would not affect them. “If there was some issue and disruption in the transport of vegetables, we would have got the intimation by now,” said A Nasaraudeen, an onion wholesaler from Broadway.
Others said that since the stock comes in by midnight, it would not affect them even if there is a possibility of a hartal on Tuesday.
The retailers, too, reiterated the same. “Until Ayudha Pooja, we will not have to increase the stocks. No one has stocked up on vegetables as there is no possibility of this affecting the supply,” said E Anjalam, a fruit vendor at Broadway market.