OTT shows should also be shown in theatres, says Chandan Roy Sanyal

Recently, theatre owners, distributors and people from the film fraternity urged the government of India to allow movie theatres to reopen as part of 'Unlock 4.0'. With cinema halls shut for close to six months, exhibitors are faced with huge losses.

Actor Chandan Roy Sanyal echoed this sentiment as he believes the COVID-19 pandemic is not going to end anytime soon. “Of course, cinema halls should be reopened," Roy Sanyal told Cinestaan.com. "They have reopened in a few countries. This disease is here to stay. This is a disease like any other. You can’t stay at home for life. The vaccine will come when it has to.”

Roy Sanyal features in Prakash Jha's web-series Aashram (2020), which was released late last month, and tells the story of an evil 'god-man' Babaji played by Bobby Deol. Roy Sanyal plays his right-hand man and best friend Bhopa, who looks after Babaji’s affairs. The pairing of the two actors has been drawing a lot of appreciation.

Roy Sanyal believes COVID-19 is not the only virus we would need to battle in the future. “I read somewhere that the WHO [World Health Organization] has said we will have more pandemics in the coming times. Then we will have to shut things again. People have to start getting back to work, otherwise the whole country will collapse,” he said.

Meanwhile, the country also needs to be equipped to deal with future pandemics, the actor said. “You basically need to be prepared with your health-care system, medical system and factories for medicines. And it should reach the poor. Burning forests, hurting nature and making bombs shouldn’t happen now.”

Coming back to the issue of cinema halls, Roy Sanyal said even web-series should be shown in movie theatres. “If they are shot like a film, why not show them in theatres?" he said. "Suppose Aashram’s episodes are shown in the theatres, people will go and see. If you can show films on OTT, why can’t you show OTT shows in theatres? I am 100% sure people will visit theatres to see them.”