As Vijay-starrer 'Master' and Silambarasan aka STR-starrer 'Eeswaran' is all set to hit the theaters on 13th January and 14th January respectively, the fans are elated as the Tamil Nadu government on Monday announced 100 per cent occupancy in cinema halls.
This decision of the government has not gone down well with many people. With the pandemic still persistent, the rise in the number of people affected by the new COVID strain has only added more cases to the coronavirus tally.
Since the last few days, many experts and people have openly voiced their opinion against the 100 per cent occupancy in theaters.
On Monday, Aravinth Srinivas, a junior resident doctor from Puducherry on Facebook wrote a hard-hitting post addressed to Vijay, STR and the Tamil Nadu government.
Here is the complete post of the junior resident doctor:
Dear Actor Vijay sir, Silambarasan sir and the respected Govt. of Tamil Nadu,
I am tired. We are all tired. Thousands of doctors like me are tired. Health care workers are tired. Police officials are tired. Sanitary workers are tired.
We have worked so hard at the ground level to make sure the damage done is kept to as low as possible amidst an unprecedented pandemic. I am not glorifying our work for I know there is nothing so great about it to the onlooker’s eyes. We don’t have cameras in front of us. We don’t do stunt sequences. We aren’t heroes. But we deserve some time to breath. We don’t want to fall prey to someone’s selfishness and greed.
The pandemic isn’t over and we have people dying till today to the disease. A hundred percent theatre occupancy is a suicide attempt. Rather homicide, for none of the policy makers or the so called heroes are going to put themselves under the pump, to watch the movie amidst the crowd. This is a blatant barter system, trading lives for money.
Can we please slowly try and concentrate on our lives and make sure we tide through this pandemic peacefully and not reignite the slowly burning out flame, that is still not completely put out?
I wanted to make this post scientific and explain why we are still in danger. But that’s when I asked myself, “what’s the point?”
Yours tiredly
A poor, tired resident doctor
The post has received over 1,600 reactions and over 500 shares.
The Tamil Nadu government’s move to allow 100 per cent seating comes after Vijay requested CM Edappadi K Palaniswami to grant permission ahead of the release of his movie 'Master'.
Experts say 'it is not safe inside closed spaces'
Infectious diseases specialist Ram Gopalakrishnan of Apollo Hospitals said it is not an optimal situation to allow 100 percent attendance in theatres and it may lead to more cases.
“Definitely increase in attendance in crowded indoor areas will increase the number of cases. It is perhaps much better to proceed with this move after the vaccination rolls out,” he said.
He said that people would remove masks for eating popcorn and other snacks, which is risky.
He said, "The impact can be minimized by wearing masks and avoiding food in theatres. But still, it is risky as social distancing can’t be maintained."
While Dr Prabhdeep Kaur, Deputy Director, Indian Council of Medical Research–National Institute of Epidemiology, said it is not safe.
“I will advise public to avoid closed spaces anywhere,” she said.
(With Inputs From PTI)