Single screens fight against Covid-19 crisis
Like any other business, movie screening and making, too, have been impacted massively due to the Covid-19 crisis. Trade expert Atul Mohan shares that single screens are at a risk of financial trouble as they haven’t had any revenue coming in. “They depend on a good film, if one works well, their next one-two weeks go by easy,” he says.
According to Rajan Gupta, owner of Karol Bagh’s Liberty cinema, though the present financial situation is under control, uncertainty is adding to the stress of no business. “We are actually clueless,” he confesses, “If this becomes a long thing, the government should allow us to use our properties for other acceptable ventures.”
Rajkumar Malhotra, manager of another popular single-screen cinema, Delite, shares, “When the lockdown started, we got work like dry cleaning, renovation done as we expected it to last 10-15 days, not months. I don’t think films are releasing anytime soon.”
Film distributor Joginder Mahajan, who is also the general secretary of the Motion Pictures Association in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, talks about the financial troubles of single screens. “The property tax is approximately ₹50,000 per month. And then, there’s a minimum electricity bill and the permanent staff they have to pay. Also, the distributor’s share is 20% of the revenue. Single screens ka survival mushkil ho gaya hai.”