The Telangana government allowed theatres in the state to reopen with 100% capacity from Sunday, July 18. However, with no major movie releases happening most of the theatres remained shut. As a part of the lockdown measures brought about by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, theatres across the state had been closed from May 12 onwards.
Meanwhile, major movies like Narappa and others have been slated for an Over-the-platform (OTT) release, which has come as a shock to theatre owners. The members from the Telangana State Film Chamber of Commerce (TSFCC) have said that they will reopen theatres as soon as new movies release and will not run shows of old movies given the high maintenance cost of running the theatres.
Though the Telangana government has announced the complete removal of the lockdown restriction in the last week of June, which also allowed for the reopening of theatres the theatre owners were not ready. The TSFCC put forward some conditions to be met before they were ready to reopen the theatres.
The relaxations sought by the Telangana State Film Chamber of Commerce include the revival of parking charges for the theatres, waiver of minimum electricity charges for during the lockdown period and property tax, and reduce charges for shooting permissions and others.
TSFCC members giving representation to minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav
Meanwhile, members of TSFCC met Talasani Srinivas Yadav, state minister for cinematography, and put forward their requests. Balgovind, the owner of Sudarshan theatre who was part of the delegation, speaking to The News Minute said that they have got a positive response from the minister regarding their request. “We were told that the issues would be looked at positively and the ministry would get back with feedback and we were asked to reopen our theatres starting from Sunday. However, there are no movies as of now, we would be reopening them, as and when movies release," he said.
He further added they are pinning their hopes on the release of the Nani starrer Tuck Jagadish, though no date has been confirmed as yet for this.
Meanwhile, two small-budget Telugu movies are also slated for release in the last week of July, including, horror entertainer, Neragadu, starring Dhansika of Kabali fame; and Thimmarusu starring actor Satyadev and Priyanka Jawalkar.