Bollywood backs movie mania to beat Covid fear
In movie-mad India, millions of filmgoers excitedly waited for cinemas to reopen this week after a seven-month pandemic-induced halt. It’s a step towards lifting the fortunes of the world’s most prolific film industry.
Avid fan Hema Chockalingam intends to hit the multiplex in the New Delhi suburb of Noida with a group of girlfriends thisweekend.
“I’m desperate for the movie-hall experience,” said the brand executive, who wants to return to her once-a-week fix. “Watching streamed content is no match for the real thing. I’m reclaiming my old life.”
Nearly 10,000 movie theatres around the country closed in mid-March following coronavirus restrictions; on Thursday cinemas became one of the last few categories of public building to reopen.
The resumption of screening will be propitious for film buffs, with Bollywood movies awaiting theatrical release along with Hollywood films such as Tenet , key scenes of which were filmed in Mumbai.
India’s restart comes just weeks ahead of Diwali, the festival of lights, a time when the biggest films line up for box-office release. But with 7-million people in the country infectedwith the coronavirus, doubts remain over whether audiences will fill the 50% restricted-capacity halls and if that will boost its movie-making industry.
“Indian films are made for the big screen and theatre audiences keep the industry humming,” said Taran Adarsh, a movie industry analyst, who fears hygiene concerns and falling discretionary spends could affect ticket sales. “After a bleak phase, this weekend and the coming weeks will determine the survival of the industry.”
Just weeks ago, multiplex owners had said in full-page newspaper ads that they had suffered $1.2bn (R19.92bn) in ticket losses and needed to open “on an urgent basis”.
The cascading effects of zero box-office returns and virus restrictions have already upended Bollywood and brought India’s massive film studios to a grinding stop.
The shake-up could permanently hurt some studios, distributors and cinemas in a country that produces more films — about 2,000 each year — and sells more cinema tickets — more than 2-billion annually — than any other.
Hanging in the balance are the livelihoods of low-paid singers, stuntmen, spot boys and set designers in cities like Mumbai, as well as bustling local-language film centres such as Bangalore.
The reopening brings hope not just for workers but the likes of BookMyShow, the country’s largest online-ticketing platform.
“Flights are full, parks are bustling with people playing cricket and restaurants’ tables are filling up,” said CEO Ashish Hemrajani. “In a cinema, you sit side by side, you don’t have to take off your mask and you don’t talk, so the risks of catching an infection are vastly lower.”
Two of Bollywood’s biggest potential blockbusters could be the crowd-pullers cinemas sorely need. Owners are hoping that the big-screen debut of police drama Sooryavanshi and cricket action film 83, a eulogy to India’s cricket World Cup victory in 1983, could reverse the tide.