It is quite worrisome to know that cinema halls in our country are shutting at a very rapid pace. The situation is so alarming that most of the districts in our country are left with one only theatre and those are also taking his last breath. So, what is the real reason behind the closure of theatres or is there any kind of conspiracy behind it?
To know the real reason let us talk to prolific director Varadraj Swami who has recently made a film on the backdrop on the plight of cinema halls which has been titled as 'Romanticc Tukde'. As soon as it was announced that the shooting of the film has been completed, it became talked of the town and it generated lot of interest among the people of the country.
What is its truth? Who is responsible? Varadraj Swami says, "Whatever maybe the real reason behind the closure of cinema halls in the country, it seems that in near future except metropolitan cities no other places will be left with theatres in the country. And those days are not far behind when multiplexes in the metropolitan cities won't be able to recover the cost of the movies."
He further says, "During the golden era of 50s and 60s, cinema viewing habit among people became very popular. It created mass hysteria in the 70s among the people living in villages and small towns. And that's the reason 70s era is known as the era of cinematic revolution. In the 80s every city in the country had at least 3-4 cinema halls in spite of they used to buy tickets in black. People from far off villages used to come to cities to watch their favourite movies. They used to reach cinema halls much before the show time. It used to be real hard work to get hold of the ticket."
Reminiscing about the golden era of Indian cinema Varadraj Swami said, "90s was the musical decade when people were captivated with the beautiful lyrics, melodious music, heart pumping action and on-screen romance but it was the same decade when cinema halls started facing lot of difficulties. When television arrived in India, people in villages started video parlours in large numbers which affected the cinema exhibition industry severely as these parlours started showing films at very cheap rates. But still the craze of watching movies in cinemas didn't vanish. This craze was evident till the year 2010. Cinema was already available on DVD and CD but as soon as movies were available on mobile and internet via android phones and other technological advancement, the charm of watching cinema in theatres started to fade away. Later, during pandemic and lockdown the easy availability of content in the form of web series and movies on various OTT platforms hit the cinema exhibition business in a very hard way. The hardcore viewers of cinema hall started to shift their loyalties towards OTT platforms.
After the lockdown theatres started to open but it failed to pick up the business. Depressed with the mounting losses the cinema owners started to convert their halls into cold storages and godowns. Due to poor response from the theatre going public, at least 1500-2000 in India were permanently shut down which was a huge blow for the exhibition industry. Many more theatres are on the verge on closing down. The reason behind all this is not just digital films, web series or web portals but actors, directors, producers, distributors, technicians are equally responsible for this mess."
Delving deeper into the problem our cinema is facing, the filmmaker says,"Actors suddenly started demanding fees in the range of 20 to 30 crore rupees. Even directors of these films are asking for 10 to 15 crores to direct a film. From music director to singers to all the top-notch technicians are also demanding high fees for their services. The publicity cost has also gone between 5 to 10 crores a film. The film which should be made in the budget of Rs. 20 crores rupees, it is being made in the whopping budget of around Rs. 80 crores while content of the film doesn't deserve such kind of investment. The recovery capacity of such film is less, which is around 30 to 40 crores rupees. Then to recover such a huge investment on such high budgeted films, the ticket rates are hiked which goes upto 500 to 1000 rupees per ticket. Can you tell me how many people in the country can actually pay such huge sum of money to buy a single ticket? People have started spending huge time on social media activities, which are related to Facebook, Instagram, Reels Twitter etc and hence they are losing interest in watching films in theatres."
He further added, "Today almost every person has become a digital and the world has shifted to online activities. From shopping to grocery, from buying ration to romance, everything is easily available online these days. People are so busy these days that people hardly find time or have inclination to visit cinema halls to watch movies. People's approach towards watching films in theatres has changed drastically. People don't even have time to watch news while they are at their home. The world is changing at a rapid pace. It's not that only the world of cinema exhibition is in jeopardy, but TV industry and news media industry is also going through a rough patch. Today, film and entertainment industry are struggling to sustain itself".
Talking about 'Romanticc Tukde' Varadraj Swami said, "Our film is a realistic film and the story and the plot of the film revolves around the cinematic churnings of the 90s and how later things started going haywire for cinema halls. 'Romantic Tukde' highlight the pain of cinema halls which are closing down one by one. It compels the audiences to think about the degrading state of cinemas in our country."
Notably, film stars Pankaj Berry, Nikunj Malik, Amiya Amit Kashyap, Bhakti Punjani, Brajesh Jha, Vivekanand Jha, Dhama Verma, Rahul Kuriyal in pivotal roles. The film has been produced by Vijay Bansal, Priya Bansal while it has been associate producer Bhojappa Motiram Jadhav and co-produced by Asif Khan and Whether films.
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