Maharashtra exhibitors disagree with association stand of keeping theatres shut until financial demands are met

At long last, the Maharashtra government has announced that cinema halls in the state can reopen after 22 October.

But earlier this week, even as pressure was building on the state government to set a date for the reopening, the Cinema Owners & Exhibitors Association (COEA) announced that its members would not reopen their theatres even after the government allowed them to reopen, until certain demands were met. The organization controls single-screen theatres in the state.

However, many single screen exhibitors have expressed unhappiness with this stand and will be going ahead and reopening their establishments, now that the date has been set.

Reacting to the COEA plan, Manoj Desai, executive director of Maratha Mandir and the G7 multiplex in Mumbai, said, “I told them I will open my theatres even if we are allowed 50% occupancy. Who are they to not allow us to open? We are struggling to survive!”

Desai said several of his employees had left their jobs over the past two years, since the pandemic struck, and returned to their native villages to start small businesses for subsistence.

Sunny Chandiramani from Sunshine Studios, which runs single-screen theatres in Kolhapur, Rahimatpur and Koregaon, said, “Cinema owners are divided on this issue. We intend to start business as soon as the state government allows us. We were just awaiting the notification." 

Exhibitor Akshaye Rathi, who runs Saroj Cinemas in the state and outside, pointed out that cinema circuits, or distribution territories, are divided such that it is not possible for the whole of Maharashtra to boycott the reopening of single-screens. “It is divided such that under Bombay circuit there are parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Vidharbha comes under a different circuit and they have their own association,” he pointed out.

Asked whether he, too, is keen to reopen his cinema halls, Rathi said, “We were waiting for the green signal from the government and we will reopen. Every exhibitor has their own views and they will follow their own trajectory.”

Another exhibitor who runs an old single-screen theatre in the state and did not want to be identified echoed the sentiment. “It [not reopening cinemas] is absolutely wrong,” he said. “I don’t support it. All those single-screens that are saying they won’t open, they will all open.”

While listing its demands, the COEA also said that if the state government is not willing to accept them, it should at least allow cinema owners to exit the business and start other businesses on the same property. But the exhibitor quoted above said this was not the right time to ask for an exit policy.

“Cinema owners have been asking for this exit policy for the past 20 or 25 years,” he pointed out. “If they have not done it for the last 25 years, what is the sense in closing theatres now and demanding an exit policy? It's not going to happen. And all are not asking for an exit policy. Only vested interests are.”

He added, “I only request the government to reduce the electricity duty by 25 or 30% and give some benefit to the single-screens by reducing the GST [goods and services tax]. Reduction of taxes will brighten up our business. It will boost the morale of cinema owners.”