India’s media and entertainment earnings fell by a quarter to $18.7bn last year, according to accounting firm EY, and most multiplex chains suffered big losses. “Producers have made money by selling their movies to Amazon and Netflix but it is the theatre owners that have really suffered,” said Shailesh Kapoor, of Ormax Media, which tracks films before and after release. Rajendra Singh Jyala, the head of programming for INOX, the country’s second-largest multiplex chain, told the Reuters news agency he expected demand to bounce back to pre-COVID-19 levels.īut the firm has consistently reported a net loss since March 2020 and Jyala said another wave of coronavirus infections and any new lockdowns could seriously hurt the already beleaguered industry. India’s richest state, Maharashtra, which accounts for more than 30 percent of box-office revenue, opened cinemas with restrictions only two weeks ago, as cases fell and vaccinations picked up. Initially due out in March 2020, its release date was pushed back three times as India grappled with waves of coronavirus cases and authorities locked down in several parts of the country, shutting theatres.Īlso debuting this week will be Eternals, the latest installment in Hollywood’s Marvel franchise, and the colourful drama Annaatthe featuring Tamil superstar Rajinikanth.įans excited about Annaatthe sprayed milk on posters displaying Rajinikanth’s face in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai city on Thursday as a sign of respect for the actor, who inspires an almost god-like adulation in the state.Īs the industry gets back on its feet, India’s largest multiplex operator PVR is also opening an open-air, rooftop drive-in cinema – pegged as the first in the world – in Mumbai on Friday. Sooryavanshi, an action-drama in the Bollywood tradition, with flashy dance sequences and muscle-bound leading men thwarting villains, was released on Friday, a day after the Hindu festival of Diwali, traditionally a big box office day.
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“There are some films you can’t watch at home.” People watch a movie inside a cinema in Mumbai on Friday “It was tough to hold out for a theatrical release, but we still believe that audiences will come back to the theatres,” Shibasish Sarkar, who was group CEO of producer Reliance Entertainment during the making of the film, told the Reuters news agency. Hardly any Bollywood movies have been released in theatres since then, with many producers preferring to release their films on streaming platforms like Amazon’s Prime Video, Netflix and Disney. Sooryavanshi (Descendants of the Sun), a police drama with four of India’s top actors, is the first A-list Bollywood film to premiere in theatres since March 2020, when a strict lockdown forced all venues to close. Bollywood stars are returning to India’s big screens after more than a year, with the film industry hoping that declining COVID-19 cases and the festival season will bring audiences back to the cinemas.
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