Didn’t show green ads, now don’t show films

Nine Thane theatres banned from screening movies for four days for not showing the mandatory eco-awareness public service ads

Didn't show green ads, now don't show films

Nine Thane theatres banned from screening movies for four days for not showing the mandatory eco-awareness public service ads

Environment clearly figures prominently on the agenda of the Thane Police.

The owners of movie theatres and multiplexes in the area learned of the police's intent to enforce environmental laws after it banned nine of them from screening films for failure to show eco-awareness public interest messages during movies.

Cinemax at Eternity Mall in Thane is one of the multiplexes that have been ordered to stop screening movies from February 27 until March 2

The ban was initially supposed to be for seven days, but after the owners approached the authorities asking for reprieve, it was slashed to four days, starting February 27.

A special squad of the Thane Police, while inspecting multiplexes and theatres in late January, found that that the theatres were not screening the two environmental awareness slides, as mandated under the Maharashtra Cinema Act, 1953.

Subsequently, the Thane Police Commissioner banned these theatres from screening movies for seven days.
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However, multiplex and theatre owners were given a grace period of a month so they can appeal to the authorities, in this case, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Satej aka Bunty Patil.

The owners immediately swung into action and approached Patil to reverse the ban order. A hearing was scheduled for February 17.

But Patil, under immense pressure from colleagues, chose not to completely nullify the police commissioner's order, and reduced the number of days of the ban to four, that is, from February 27 until March 2.

Official speaks

Justifying the MoS's decision, an official from his office said, "The theatre owners were taking rules for granted and not screening the slides. That is the reason we had to take action.

But we had to take a middle path, to ensure that the morale of the police is kept high and the theatre owners adhere to rules."

But he cited an alternative motive as well.

"We also wanted to ensure that there was no revenue loss to the government on account of the ban, because 35 to 40 per cent of the ticket sales are given to the government as entertainment tax," he said.

'Technical glitch'

Harrowed owners of the movie theatres, on the other hand, say that the lapse wasn't intentional.

Said Sunil Punjabi, spokesperson of Cinemax multiplex chain, "There were technical issues that prevented us from screening the public service messages related to environmental awareness.
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It wasn't a deliberate omission but a technical error. We hope to settle the issue amicably."

Another spokesperson of a multiplex chain, reluctant to be named, said, "We'll approach the court to settle the matter. We cannot bear the heavy losses we would have to incur if the ban is imposed."

No show
The following theatres have been banned from screening movies from February 27 until March 2:
Thane: Cinewonder Multiplex, Cinemax Eternity Mall, Chaya Cinema, Anand Chitrapat, Kranti Chitrapat Gruh,
Bhiwandi: Ganesh Chitrapat Gruh, Ashish
Kalyan: Sagar, Bhanu

2
Number of environmental-awareness slides required to be shown in theatres