Movie buffs, theatre owners huff and puff

HYDERABAD: Movie buffs had to be content, watching whatever they could, online on Wednesday. All the cinemas, including multiplexes like Prasads and Inox, downed the shutters in response to the call given by the Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce as part of the ongoing Sakala Janula Samme. People, young and old alike, were found strolling at GVK One and Hyderabad Central, window shopping and hanging out at food courts, as the movie screens were closed. Pavan Anand and his wife were among them at Inox.  “We had three hours to kill before a meeting with a doctor and decided to watch a movie. But the ticket counter was closed and we had to look for an alternative to pass the time,” Anand said. If this was the case with movie-goers, theatre owners were worried about the losses due to the two-day bandh. Some of them, though, appeared relaxed. “As an act of solidarity, we have kept the entire multiplex shut,” explained T Srikanth, general manager (operations), Prasads Multiplex. “Since we had to shut shop for two days, the entire team decided to make the best out of it by making sure that the entire mall is cleaned up,”  he added. Srikanth confessed that losses will be incurred. “Prasads has at least 25,000 visitors a day and of them, 15,000 come to watch a movie. But, at this point, I can’t assess the loss,” he said. Talking about the measures taken to inform the citizens in advance, he claimed they had tried to do so in every possible way. Even then, many people came to the multiplex only to return home disappointed.K S Rama Rao, manager, Sandhya theatre, was disappointed because the bandh would cost a minimum loss of  Rs one lakh per day. “Even though the movie that is currently running in the theatre is not very popular, we still end up losing a minimum of Rs one lakh,” confessed Rao.Another theatre manager at RTC X roads, A Gyaneshwar, agreed. “The movies playing in theatres --- Sudarshan and Devi, are not popular, but we will face losses, right from ticket sales to canteen income, which will come up to Rs one lakh per day,” he said.

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