Despite flood of releases, cinemas are struggling to get back on their feet

Some big-ticket Hindi films waited as long as a year and a half for release because of the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the country early last year. Like other businesses, cinema halls were also shut down. They did reopen briefly between November 2020 and April 2021. But this period did not see any big-ticket Hindi films being released as several pandemic-induced restrictions were still in place and producers and distributors were holding out for full occupancy.

But the lockdown that followed when the second wave hit the country not only made them aware of the changed reality, but also, perhaps, induced some panic. So, when the government of Maharashtra, the country's biggest market for Hindi films by revenue, finally announced the reopening of theatres — still with restrictions — from 22 October, a flurry of film release announcements followed.

The first big-ticket film to hit theatres was Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi (2021) on 5 November during Diwali. This was followed by other big-banner movies like Bunty Aur Babli 2 (2021), Antim: The Final Truth (2021), Satyameva Jayate 2 (2021) and the recent Tadap (2021).

So far, however, only Sooryavanshi has managed to draw audiences to theatres. The other releases have struggled to fill even 25% of the 50% capacity allowed in some states, including Maharashtra.

Distributor and exhibitor Sunny Chandiramani of Sunshine Studios said, “For Maharashtra, November was good because Sooryavanshi ran well in the first two weeks. We did face a loss because of Bunty Aur Babli 2, but this was offset by Jhimma [the Marathi movie that was released on 19 November along with the Yash Raj Films production]. Also Sooryavanshi was still going strong.”

The big disappointments for exhibitors were John Abraham's Satyameva Jayate 2 and Salman Khan's Antim: The Final Truth. "Multiplexes somehow handled the situation as they still had Jhimma and other films. But the single-screens don’t have this luxury, so they suffered with these two films,” Chandiramani said.

Rashmikant Bhalodia, who runs Galaxy theatre in Rajkot and is president of the Single Screen Association of Gujarat, said the situation in his state was the same. “We benefited a lot in the first two weeks with Sooryavanshi as people came in large numbers,” he said. “But the films that followed weren’t much to speak about. Not a single film after that made exhibitors happy. In fact, Sooryavanshi continued to do well even when new films were released.”

Chandiramani said the situation in the South isn’t encouraging either with the Rajinikanth-starrer Annaatthe (2021) not doing as well as was expected. “For a month now, Telugu and Tamil movies haven’t been faring well," he pointed out. "They are still trying to recover from the second lockdown. There hasn’t been a blockbuster hit there. Now all eyes are on Pushpa (2021) [which is set to be released tomorrow].”

After theatres reopened in Punjab earlier this year, the state saw a series of successful films like Chal Mera Putt 2, Chal Mera Putt 3, Honsla Rakh and Qismat 2. However, things aren’t quite the same any more.

“Punjabi movies were doing good business until Sooryavanshi was released,” Chandiramani pointed out. “After that, they are also struggling to get a hit. Some big films that were released recently have had average runs. Before Sooryavanshi, they had quite a few hits.”

Before the pandemic, the norm generally followed was that a film would go on to an over-the-top (OTT) platform not less than eight weeks after its theatrical release. This period has been crunched to four weeks after the pandemic to help producers get a better price from OTT platforms. This has also affected the theatrical runs of movies, exhibitors believe.

Chandiramani is hopeful that the eight-week window will be reinstated when cinema halls start running at full capacity all over India. “Everybody is waiting for the Maharashtra government to allow full occupancy," he said. "Once that happens, exhibitors will sit with producers and this will be sorted out."

He said that before the four-week window came in, some films used to complete 50 days in cinema halls: “Films used to get a good hold in theatres. Producers are looking for quick money, but they are losing out [on box office collections]. Films like Tujhe Meri Kasam (2003) and Chaal Jeevi Laiye (2019, Gujarati) are still getting an audience in theatres because the makers haven’t given the satellite and digital rights to anyone. If Sooryavanshi had not been released on Netflix, most B and C centres would still be running the film.”

Producer Anand Pandit agrees with the need for a longer gap for OTT releases. “Longer OTT premiere windows signal that theatres will bounce back sooner than later," he said in a statement. "Returning to a six- to eight-week window will boost the business of cinema. I just hope the sense of normalcy and good cheer we are beginning to see now will gain strength in the months to come. Both industries can help each other to showcase content in a productive way so that every stakeholder feels included.”

The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) had put certain demands to the Maharashtra government, including waiver of some taxes for the period of the shutdown and allowing theatre owners to run other businesses on the same property. They had even threatened that they would not reopen single-screen theatres if these demands were not met. In October, state home minister Dilip Walse Patil assured the exhibitors that their demands would be looked into, following which they agreed to reopen theatres.

But Nitin Datar, president of COEAI, said so far they have only received lip service from the authorities. “It has been nothing more than an assurance," he told Cinestaan.com. "If the government has decided on something, it should act upon it. We had asked them to waive service charges because theatres were shut for almost two years. But nothing has been done.”

Asked whether the association is trying to have a dialogue with the government, Datar said, “The follow-up is going on at the secretary and ministry level. We don’t know why they are taking so much time. We have also been demanding that they allow theatre owners to run any other business. If they are not willing to help us, at least let us use the property for other business.”

Explaining the plight of single-screen theatres in Maharashtra, he said, “Of the 75 single-screen theatres in Mumbai, only about 30 have reopened. Similar is the case in the rest of Maharashtra. Not a single single-screen theatre in Nashik is currently operating. The exhibitors reopened cinemas with the hope that the government would soon allow 100% occupancy, but even that hasn’t happened.”

Datar said theatres have suffered the most during the pandemics, not film producers: “If there are no theatres available, they [filmmakers] have the option of recovering their money by releasing their films on OTT platforms. But single-screen theatres as well as multiplexes have no other source of income.”

The arrival of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus has added to the sense of anxiety, particularly in Maharashtra, where cinema halls were opened only after much pleading and cajoling by exhibitors and the film industry.

“We do see it as a threat,” said Chandiramani. “Whenever cases start rising, the first thing to close down is cinemas and when things start opening up, cinemas are the last to reopen. We are the worst affected."

He urged the government to understand that running a cinema theatre is also a business: "We have to pay property tax, water tax, electricity bills and maintenance. And there are a large number of films waiting [for release] and restarting business will take a long time in case there is another lockdown.”

But exhibitors are taking heart from reports that the new variant does not seem to be as dangerous as the earlier Delta variant. “We have been hearing that Omicron is not that severe," Chandiramani said. "So we are just going with that positivity right now.”

Bhalodia agreed. “We will face problems if the [Gujarat] government goes back to 50% occupancy and enforces another lockdown, night curfews, and other restrictions," he said. "But I have been reading that the variant isn’t so severe. Plus, most people are fully vaccinated.”

Datar said it was up to the state government to decide how to look at the new variant. “Theatre owners and the public don’t see it as a threat," he claimed. "The threat is only for the government. From what we are hearing, this variant isn’t dangerous. It is a mild variant, but we need to see whether the government takes it mildly.”

Meanwhile, the exhibitors' hopes now rest on the Christmas releases. With Kabir Khan’s keenly awaited 83 up for release on 24 December, the industry is hoping for at least a Sooryavanshi-like performance at the ticket window, if not better.