Entertainment essential, boosts 'mental fitness', says Assam exhibitor Dr Sankar Das

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit every part of India hard and led to a countrywide economic downturn. While all industries have been affected by the closure of commercial places, the entertainment industry is amongst the worst hit, specifically the cinema exhibition spaces that have not seen audiences return with the same enthusiasm as before.

While the Northeast of India has not seen very large numbers of people afflicted by COVID-19, theatre owners there, too, have taken a hard hit and are struggling to survive.

Chinmoy Sharma, owner of Anuradha Cinema in Guwahati, Assam, admitted being unprepared to deal with the countrywide lockdown last year, which for cinema halls lasted more than six months. "Initially, we thought it would be just for a few days," he said, "but we soon realized that the hall will be closed for a very long time."

Sharma's team used this period to renovate the hall by reducing the seating capacity and increasing the commercial space so that an alternative source of income could be established in the same property. Sharma eventually reopened the hall on 29 January this year even though the government allowed cinemas to resume operations in mid-October last year.

Dr Sankar Das, owner of Jollymax Cinema in Bongaigaon, Assam, had to similarly fall back on an alternative source of income during this period. Fortunately for him, his medical practice provided economic relief.

Dr Das had a serious concern about how to provide employment to his cinema staff during the lockdown. “Somehow, I accommodated more than 80% in my hospital though they were not trained to work in such a place," he said. "Those who could not be accommodated at that time, I adopted a policy to take them for maybe 15 or 20 days at a time.”

But the doctor, like other exhibitors in the state, got no respite from the monthly electricity bill for their theatres, though the exhibitors' association had petitioned the state government for an exemption.

Still, both Sharma and Dr Das were fortunate as compared to many other business owners and workers, and have now reopened their halls with strict COVID-19 guidelines in place. Unfortunately, not all cinema owners in the state have been able to bounce back. Sikhiri Brahma, co-owner of Gold Cinema in Kokrajhar, Assam, had to shut down the hall in March last year and has still not reopened it.

All three cinema owners recalled how before the lockdown, their halls used to be packed with film-goers for the first three or four days of a movie’s release. Along with Hindi films, they exhibited films in English, Assamese and Bodo.

Discussing the measures that need to be adopted to get audiences back into the halls, Sharma said, “Firstly, good content. Secondly, cinema halls should follow the SOP [standard operating procedure] for maintaining hygiene.”

Echoing him, Dr Das advocated watching films as a way of staying “fit”. “You can have food, but if you do not have mental food, your life is horrible," he said. "We have understood this... I love to provide facilities for others to have recreational activities. They can rejuvenate their minds by watching movies in this hall. It is a kind of ‘entertainment’ fitness. And I think everyone needs mental fitness through entertainment.”

Looking at the road ahead, the exhibitors felt a dip in the number of positive cases along with increased vaccination could encourage people to venture out once again.

While OTT platforms had been slowly but steadily eating up the market share of cinema halls, the pandemic has accelerated this process. Analysing the impact of streaming platforms on the business, Sankar Das noted, “Online streaming services will definitely affect the business of cinema exhibitors and threaten the viability of this industry. The government should look into it so that people are not deprived of a better facility for entertainment.”

However, Sikhiri Brahma said OTT platforms do not pose a threat to cinemas "because people usually go to cinemas for the theatrical experience, for relaxation, and to spend quality time with friends and family, which streaming services do not provide”.

Sharma said the choice is also driven by content: “A few movies can be enjoyed on the laptop or mobile phone, but others should be enjoyed on the big screen with heavy sound and 3D effects which are only available in a good theatre.”

Despite the current crisis and the consequences of prolonged lockdowns, all three said they would be happy to continue the cinema exhibition business. “You need to have a passion to run a single-screen theatre where multiplex runs the main business,” said Sharma. “What we do in Anuradha Cineplex is provide the same facilities that a multiplex provides, at a reasonable cost. That is the secret of our success.”

Although Brahma and her brother have not been able to put together the funds needed to restart the business, she remains hopeful. “We are waiting for the situation to normalize, so that we can run our business as we had planned,” she said.

Summing up the situation, Dr Das said, “Cinema is an industry which cannot be deleted from our lives. Maybe there are some constraints that cinema is facing, which is what all industries are facing. But I hope these constraints will not remain for long.”