Months after government allowed them to reopen, theatres in Bijapur struggling to keep shows running
Bijapur: Even after the government permitted the opening of cinema halls/theatres to screen movies with 50 percent audience capacity, the majority of theaters in Bijapur city have remained closed.
Though the cinema halls were allowed to open from October 15 – only a few theaters began operations in early November while the remaining cinema halls have remained closed to date. Among the theaters that have opened are screening old popular and recent blockbuster movies but are still grappling to attract the audience.
Shravan Kumar Mahindrakar, proprietor of Apsara Cineplex said that, “We thought that we will get a good response from movie enthusiasts as the theaters have opened after nearly seven months but the response so far has largely disappointed us. In each show, we are witnessing merely less than 10 people in the cinema hall. Fearing infection of coronavirus, the people are still hesitant to come to theaters.”
“Because of multiple factors, we are facing issues to attract audience after unlock. One is the producers of big movies are hesitating to release movies fearing loss. Second is the small scale movie producers are marketing their movies to OTT platforms instead of releasing in theaters. The third is the younger generation are preferring to watch movies in OTT platforms than theaters,” detailed Mahindrakar, who has been running the theater for the past five decades.
There are about six theaters in the city. Among them, two are functioning and the remaining three are yet to open and one has decided to close the cinema hall permanently.
Ramesh Rayakar, proprietor of Laxmi Theaters pointed that, “The theaters bring good revenue to the government during the season but it has completely failed to come in rescue of theater proprietors. The state government has announced COVID relief to many sectors but failed to announce any sum to the cinema halls. While the theaters are grappling to earn enough revenue - the government has increased the license fee, it is unacceptable during the pandemic. The cinema halls are running under enormous difficulty – the government has to come in its rescue,” urged Rayakar.
The two theaters that are screening movies are witnessing less than 5 percent of movie enthusiasts out of total capacity. The theaters are paying half wages to the workers as cinema halls fail to receive a good response from the audience, claimed cinema hall proprietors.
Meanwhile, moviegoers said that “After seven months I had gone to the cinema hall to watch a new movie but I was disappointed to know that the cinema halls are forced to cancel the shows because of poor audiences. The feel of watching movies in theaters will not get the same in the OTT platforms.”
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
