Vijayawada: Wait for more days to see your heroes on big screens

Vijayawada: Though the State government issued permission to reopen the film theatres in the State from July 8(Thursday), the film exhibitors are in no mood to screen movies for now as they are, as they say, unprepared for it.

It is expected that it will take some more days or weeks to re-open the theatres and screen the movies in the State. Film theatres were closed down in the State since April due to the impact of Covid second wave.

Now, with drastic decline of cases, the government announced that theatres could screen movies from July 8. However, the film exhibitors are eagerly waiting for the GO and norms to be prescribed by the government to maintain the theatres. With the second wave of Covid started in March, the government clamped curfew in the state on May 5.

Over 1100 film theatres including multiplexes are in the State. In Vijayawada, nearly 60 theatres are in and around the city. The film exhibitors are now eagerly waiting for the screening of movies of big stars ready for the release, at the same time, they are in wait and watch with the current situation of uncertainty.

The film industry of Andhra Pradesh is closely connected with the Telangana film industry particularly the Tollywood. New movies are released in two Telugu States simultaneously. Film exhibitors in the State are closely following the developments in Telangana related to reopening of theatres.

T Sai Prasad, secretary, Vijayawada Film Society, said the film exhibitors in the State are waiting to screen the movies as the government has given permission for it. He said the film exhibitors suffered huge loss due to the Covid pandemic. He said cinema halls in the State were closed in March to November, 2020 and again for two months since April/May 2021.

R V Bhupal Prasad, the owner of the Navrang theatre said the film exhibitors of Andhra Pradesh are in touch with their counterparts in Telangana to reopen the theatres and multiplexes.

He said the government has fixed the ticket prices at Rs.100, Rs.60 and Rs.40. The air conditioned theatres could not run movies if the lowest price is fixed at Rs.40. He said the power charges are increasing and theatre maintenance cost will shoot up because the film theatres to follow Covid norms at the same time the third wave of Covid is expected in September and October.

He said the film exhibitors got some relief with power charges for three months in the last year. Bhupal Prasad said the film exhibitors are eagerly waiting for the release of big movies in two Telugu States and hoped the audience will have fun and great entertainment in the coming days or weeks. He said the increase of property tax will also be a big burden to the film exhibitors.