TIRUPPUR: Single screen theatres are fast losing their pride of pride in Tiruppur. Shanthi Theatre, a landmark on PN Road for over 45 over, has closed its doors on movie buffs permanently, V Rangadurai, the theatre owner, said the advent of OTT platforms, multiplexes, and declining patronage forced him to convert the place into a godown for knitwear fabric.
Rangadurai told TNIE, “Lakhs of workers are employed in the knitwear industry in Tiruppur. There are no tourist spots here. Thus cinema theatres were the main entertainment for the workers. The crisis started for us during Covid-19 outbreak. My theatre had 750 seats. Earlier, 1,000 fans would wait outside the theatre before the screening.
At least 4,000 people will watch a movie in four shows. For every show there will be people who return without getting tickets. That situation has completely changed now. Since 2022, fan footfall has dropped completely. On an average, 50 people come for a show. Since February only 15 to 20 people have been coming and we barely collect Rs 5,000 per day.”
He added, “At this rate, I was not able to pay wages, maintenance cost and all. In 2022, I renovated the theatre at Rs 50 lakh and converted the theatre to AC. However, the efforts were fruitless. I closed the theatre as I could not face the losses any more. I rented it out for Rs 2.5 lakh per month to a knitwear firm.”
“The number of workers from other parts of TN has decreased. Now, north Indian workers are the majority here and they do not visit theatres. Also, after the arrival of OTT platforms, the number of people coming to theatres has further decreased. Even so, cinemagoers look for multiplex complexes to watch movies.
Those who have multiplexes have eight screens and run 40 shows per day. We couldn’t compete with them. Like us, Nataraj, Universal, Gajalakshmi, Ramlakshmanan and Surya theatres have also closed down. A few more single-screen theatres are set to close soon. The days of single-screen theatres are over for Tiruppur.” Rangaduari said.
“The salary of leading actors has increased by many fold. We have to invest huge sums to screen the movie. If the film does not perform well in the box office, we land in a financial mess,” he added.
M Subramaniam, president of TN Theatre and Multiplex Owners Association, said, “Now people are looking for several facilities to watch movies which is not possible in a single screen theatre. We need to update ourselves according to the expectations of the fans. Otherwise it will be difficult to survive.”