Chennai: Following coronovirus outbreak, a nationwide lockdown was announced last month. A few days before it was implemented, malls and cinema halls were asked to shut. And, shootings too were stopped. As a result, Tamil film industry came to a grinding halt. Movies that were running in theatres when lockdown was announced were the worst hit.
Says industry experts, “in the past 21 days, people restricted to their homes have taken to various platforms to watch movies. These digital solutions provide them with opportunity to catch up latest movies from multiple languages sitting at home”.
The number of subscriptions to these OTT platforms has seen a steady rise, they add. Speaking to News Today, David, an avid movie- watcher says, “It is comfortable and easy. I ended up watching a few Tamil movies and latest Malayalam films this lockdown. It is affordable and comfortable too”.
A major fear among industry people is when theatres are reopened in future, will people come to watch movies or get accustomed watching in OTT platforms.
Says a prominent distributor, “Theatres gave witnessed huge loss already. An estimated Rs 309 crore is lost already. This includes money that used to come in through online booking, food and beverage sales, parking charges”.
On the other hand, a theatre owner tells this correspondent, “We are confident that people will come to theatres once they are opened because every film has its own theatrical experience”.
The cinema halls are being cleaned and we are paying our staff from our pockets even though we are shut indefinitely, he adds.
Even if theatres are opened here, we are not sure whether the biggies will be released immediately. Kollywood films have a huge market in overseas today. Hence, only when cinehalls are opened in Malaysia, Singapore, US, Dubai and UK we can see some positive developments, distributors say in chorus.
Now people are uncertain of their future. They are not sure what will happen to their jobs and will there be job-cuts. In such a scenario the very thought of watching a movie in a theatre is a luxury for them. Hence they will like to be entertained with very little cost, say a few.
The coming months will be crucial for the Tamil film industry. All hopes are not lost. We are optimistic, say a section of theatre owners.