Huge loss for Bollywood
The mood has not been very good in the film industry as many people have not gone to the theatres and will no more be able to do so after cinema halls have shut down in many states.
Films like Angrezi Medium are also in the theatres along with the Marathi film AB Aani CD — starring Amitabh Bachchan as AB in his first title role in a Marathi movie — and those films too will have to wait for the theatres to reopen and the COVID-19 scare to abate before they put the film in the theatres.
Noted producer Bhushan Kumar said that they had no clue now about the road ahead. “Many films have to be postponed. Cinemas are shut till 31 March. Even Sooryavanshi has been postponed had not announced a new release date. I am told that ’83 may also shift. We have made a film called
Ludo with Anurag Basu, and we have to shift that too. We also have Jhund with Mr Bachchan and we have to shift that too. We don’t have any answers to what will happen,” he shares. He added that one should not jump the gun at the moment and stay calm till the situation is under control. “It is a natural calamity. A lot of people are getting affected. Everyone is completely bogged down by that and we cannot predict anything at the moment,” he warns. “It is a huge loss for the film industry,” says Atul Mohan, Editor, Complete Cinema. “In the current situation, you can say it could be a loss of `90-100 crores every week for Bollywood, and maybe a lot more in the days to come till the situation is under control. Last year, Bollywood’s revenue was around `4000 crore and other regional industries made around `3000 crore. With the nationwide crisis, it is but evident that the pandemic will cause a total revenue loss of at least `200 crore plus. It will be a lot more if theatres don’t open on April 1,” he opines.
Their loss is not just on the sale of tickets, but also on the sale of food items including cola and popcorn, among other food and beverages. They also stand to lose money, which they would get per show in the form of advertising as well.