Visakhapatnam: Theatres suspend shows again

Visakhapatnam: The second wave of Covid-19 has certainly left an impact on the make-believe world to a large extent and the situation is unlikely to improve in near future.

Lack of footfall, mounting operational costs, dip in revenues and hesitancy to watch a movie in theatres among people amid spike in coronavirus cases are some of the reasons that continue to push theatre operators to close the shutters voluntarily.

In Visakhapatnam, cinema halls are erecting sign boards that read 'screening of shows has been temporarily suspended due to coronavirus'. In the past few days, a number of theatres suspended the shows one after the other. The recent one adding to the list is the twin-theatre Narasimha and Sri Narasimha at Gopalapatnam.

"Some of the screens drew curtains last week itself as the viewers were not exceeding even 25 per show. Many theatres followed suit for the same reason. However, our maintenance cost has gone up to a large extent," explains A Somesh, Narasimha and Sri Narasimha twin-theatre manager. Cost incurred appears to exceed revenue earned in most theatres. Of the seven theatres in Gopalapatnam area, only one cinema hall is screening three shows a day. The rest remained shut for the past four days.

Likewise, of the eight theatres in Gajuwaka, only two are in operation. Given the pandemic situation, about 90 per cent of the theatre management prefers closure of cinema halls in Visakhapatnam district. Since most exhibitors have been hit hard by the second wave of Covid-19, it is going to take a while before high-budget movies hit theatres. And producers are in no hurry to fix a 'muhurat' for big-starrer movies in near future either.

Back in 2020, after months of closure due to lockdown restrictions, the theatre operators heaved a sigh of relief when the Centre allowed them to reopen the movie halls during unlock-5. Though there was no sign of improvement initially, the occupancy did recover over a period of time. But, with increased costs followed by Covid protocols, theatre operators lament that they are not able to run the show any longer.

As many prefer to avail Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms, especially in times of the pandemic, it has also led to the poor turnout in theatres. Moreover, with latest releases, including Nagarjuna-starrer 'Wild Dog' streaming on Netflix and the much-talked about Pawan Kalyan's 'Vakeel Saab' on Amazon Prime, not many prefer to step out of their homes to watch a film.