Film chamber ‘hopeful’ of 100% occupancy in theatres in Karnataka from Monday

The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) on Saturday hoped that the state government would permit 100% occupancy in theatres and multiplexes from next week.

A delegation, led by KFCC president D R Jairaj, met Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai soon after the government decided to continue the 50% occupancy guideline in theatres and multiplexes. “We requested Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to permit 100% occupancy in theatres and multiplexes. Bommai asked us to submit a memorandum which the Technical Advisory Committee will consider in its meeting on Monday,” he said.

The chief minister told the delegation that there should not be any problem in permitting 100% occupancy as there was no data to indicate that film screening with full seating capacity caused more infections.

“There was indication that 100% occupancy will be permitted from Monday itself,” Jairaj told DH.

Karnataka Film Exhibitors’ Association also demanded the government to withdraw the 50% occupancy guideline.

“The guideline will permanently shut over 200 single screen theatres across the state. Postponement of releases by producers hits exhibitors hard. The guideline also prompts producers to prefer over the top (OTT-streaming service that delivers content over the internet) platform increasingly,” the Association president K V Chandrashekar told DH.

He added, “There are 635 single screen theatres across the state. These theatres did not screen any films for 14 months due to two lockdowns in the last 23 months. The 50% occupancy guideline was in force for four months. This period saw the release of nine major Kannada films. It helped producers to some extent, but exhibitors suffered heavily as there were no major films to screen continuously.” Chandrashekar said that about 200 theatres did not conduct even a single show in the last 23 months. Multiplexes too did not screen any films on at least three screens. At some places, multiplexes conducted two shows a day instead of five shows on one screen.

He alleged that the government ignored the interests of theatre owners. “The Association requested the government for auto renewal of licence of theatres and exemption of licence fees as theatre owners did not operate. The total fee would be hardly around Rs 50 lakh. Instead of exempting the licence fee, the government postponed payment of fees by one year,” he expressed disappointment.

According to insiders, the Sandalwood records activities worth Rs 15 crore a day and activities worth Rs 5,000 crore a year. Movie-related operations worth Rs 6,500 crore have been stalled in the last 23 months.

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