The video of an employee from a prominent multiplex theatre in Chennai washing and cleaning vessels inside the men’s toilet is being widely shared and circulated on social media.
The video that has been shot inside AGS Villivakkam, as is heard in the video as well, shows steel tubs and other steel items, possibly parts of a vending machine, being washed in the basin that’s inside the men’s restroom.
The person filming the video can be heard asking the employee if this was the “hygiene” they followed at the theatre, to which the employee responds with a feeble “I’m only washing these sir,” while continuing to do so.
The video, which has gone viral, has many expressing their disbelief and questioning the quality of services being offered in theatres. While the origin of the video seems to be unknown so far, the person filming it identifies himself as a media person.
However, Archana Kalpathi, CEO of AGS Cinemas says that all hygiene measures are followed and the person who shot the video has ‘planted’ the incident to ‘exhort’ money from them.
Archana states that the video was shot after the last show on Thursday, at around 2.00 am on Friday, and that the employee seen in the video was hired recently and had started working at the theatre only the day before the incident. Archana further clarifies that the employee seen cleaning those vessels in the video did not turn up for work from the very next day.
“The person shooting this video clearly wants to extort money from us and he’s also heard asking for it in the video. We feel this has been planted on us. The way in which he walks into the restroom with his camera on seems very suspicious. Who does that?” she asks.
She also added that the person who shot the video only posted it online a couple of days after taking it, on Sunday.
“We refused to pay him any money. In fact, we’ve had sanitation department inspect all our facilities. We have dedicated areas for cleaning in all our properties. We have also put up a video showing how its done at AGS on social media,” said Archana.
A press statement from AGS Cinemas reads, “All concession areas are appropriately equipped for food preparation, storage and cleaning. We maintain the highest level of hygiene in all our properties from the first to the latest at Maduravoyal.”