I&B Ministry recommends opening of cinemas from August

Finally some good news for cinema lovers. The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has recommended the Union Home Ministry that cinema halls in the country should be allowed to reopen in August.

The step is a result of repeated appeals by the Multiplex Association of India and other cinema companies that have been deeply impacted. The industry employs more than 200,000 people directly and it accounts for nearly 60 per cent of film business revenues.

In a statement earlier this month, MAI said, “As compared to unorganised retail shops that have opened up, multiplexes and cinema are part of the organised sector, playing hosts to ‘revenue paying’ customers only and hence, in a better position to limit crowds unlike marketplaces and deploy all the mechanisms and guidelines for crowd control and social distancing.”

Recent reports claim that I&B Secretary Amit Khare at a close-door industry interaction with the CII Media Committee said that the final call on the matter will be taken by the Union Ministry.

The association has requested for an early decision to allow cinemas to open up which will help mobilization of resources in the film industry’s ecosystem and would lead to gradual revival.

Khare is said to have recommended opening of cinema halls either on August 1 or around August 31. Everything Experiential