Theatres will do good business from June

Leading producer and exhibitor Sunil Narang feels theatres in the Telangana region will be back in full swing in June. The president of the Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce said there was no official theatre bandh.

What is this confusion over the theatre bandh call?

Firstly, no bandh has been officially announced by any trade body, so there is no need for panic. As the president of the Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce, I say that theatres will be working normally from June onwards since big-ticket films like Kalki, Raayan, and Gangs of Godavari are set to hit screens. Everything will be back to normal.

But exhibitors chose to shut down since the audience went missing from 400-odd theatres, isn’t it?

I do admit that footfalls at theatres have come down drastically in the last few months since there were more flops than hits, and exhibitors were worried about their future. In fact, for the last two months, many theatres in Telangana didn’t screen movies because they didn’t have enough content. Adding to their woes, IPL matches and elections in Telugu states also dented box office collections.

Do you expect the big-ticket films to revive theatrical interest?

It is true that films like Kalki, starring Prabhas and Deepika Padukone, will boost box office collections in the two Telugu states. Raayan and the Gangs of Godavari, too, have the potential to strike a chord with the masses and woo audiences back to theatres. Nothing can replace the joy of watching a movie with family and friends.

As a leading exhibitor in Telangana yourself, didn’t you face problems?

Of course! I had to run shows without viewers many times. Audience turnout at theatres has been erratic for quite some time. One day, we have houseful crowds, while many days we run shows without even a bare minimum audience. We are managing theatres with a lot of difficulty, but we are still hoping for a bright future.

Films like Kalki, starring Prabhas and Deepika Padukone, will boost box office collections in the two Telugu states. Raayan and the Gangs of Godavari, too, have the potential to strike a chord with the masses and woo audiences back to theatres.” — Sunil Narang