Hyderabad: With depleting footfalls and mounting losses, single screen cinema theatres in the state are in dire straits. So much so that around 250 of them will shut shop from Thursday.
Lack of good movies which could otherwise attract movie-goers to cinemas is said to be the main reason for the closure. Elections and the current IPL season have compounded their problems. The earnings are so measly that they are not even enough to cover their daily expenses.
M. Vijayender Reddy, President of Telangana Theaters Association, said, “This is an unanimous decision to minimise our daily losses.” He said the daily expenditure in rural areas is between Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 while in Hyderabad this goes up to Rs 18,000. Theaters are not able to cover their expenditure. Better to shut them down, he added.
“Dearth of films with good content and film piracy broke the back of theatre owners. The saving grace in the recent past have been ‘Hanuman’ and ‘Tillu square’ that hit the screens in March,” he said.
V.L. Sridhar, the vice-president of Telangana State Film Chamber of Commerce, and owner of a single screen theatre, the failure of Vijay Deverakonda’s film was the last straw on the camel’s back which forced us to this unprecedent decision.
Many single screen theatre owners pin their hope on Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and praised him for hearing them out..
“He gave us an appointment on January 29 and spoke to us for over an hour. He instructed the officials concerned to pursue issues pertaining to piracy and other issues that were affecting our businesses.”
The owners are hopeful that Revanth Reddy would bring them out of the crisis. He understands their problems and is willing to resolve them, said some of them.
“This makes for a welcome change. The previous chief minister and his son ignored our representations and did not give any appointment in over four years while Revanth Reddy met us within a fortnight after assuming office,” said Sridhar.
