As the govt had asked cinema halls, multiplexes to shut down due to swine flu scare, film exhibitors in city have suffered losses of Rs 3.4 crore in 15 days
As the govt had asked cinema halls, multiplexes to shut down due to swine flu scare, film exhibitors in city have suffered losses of Rs 3.4 crore in 15 days
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With cinema halls and multiplexes being shut down to prevent the spread of swine flu, city's film exhibitors have suffered losses of over Rs 3.4 crore in the last 15 days.
Prakash Chaphalkar, treasurer of Multiplex Association of India and partner in Mangala Multiplex, said, "This is a really bad year for film exhibitors. Earlier, multiplexes were shut down for 40 days due to a dispute over profit sharing with the film producers. We also had a disagreement with the government over the power tariff and now, it's swine flu."
Chaphalkar rued that multiplex owners had been expecting to do good business in August but due to the swine flu scare, they will not be able to capitalise on the peak season. Hitendra Gaikwad, manager, City Pride Multiplex, said, "No advance bookings have been made even for the major films that have released recently."
Even single screen theatres have been adversely affected. Sadanand Mohol, president of Pune Exhibitors' Association and owner of Vaibhav cinema in Hadapsar, said that they have suffered a loss of Rs 40 lakh since the day they were asked to shut down. "If the situation continues, single screen cinema hall owners might even have to give up the film exhibition business," he said. Mohol pointed out that even the government is losing 40 per cent of the total revenue generated from the overall business in the form of entertainment tax.
Besides, the touring theatres that run in nearby villages have also lost about 70 per cent of their business.
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