BY NATALIA NINGTHOUJAM New Delhi, Oct 3 : The Government of India has announced that cinemas will be allowed to reopen across the country starting October 15, and fans are overjoyed. The decision has been hailed by the film fraternity, too, who are now waiting for all the state governments to give a green signal.
Theatres had been shut ever since lockdown was imposed in March, to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. On Wednesday, the Union Home Ministry announced it was allowing cinemas, theatres and multiplexes to reopen with 50 per cent seating capacity from October 15.
“This is a great announcement but we still have to wait for all the states to open up. Many states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are yet to open up. ‘Sooryavanshi’ and ’83’ have been ready for quite some time. ‘Sooryavanshi’ was originally slated for a Diwali release, but it’s not practical. Even if theatres open up in November, you can’t release such a big film with 15 days promotion time,” Reliance Entertainment Group CEO Shibashish Sarkar told IANS.
While filmmaker Rohit Shetty’s “Sooryavanshi” will bring Akshay Kumar back in the cop avatar, actor Ranveer Singh will be seen in the much-hyped Kabir Khan’s “83” as the iconic Kapil Dev, who captained India’s first-ever cricket World Cup victory campaign in 1983.
“As of now, ’83’ is slated for a Christmas release. Of course, we won’t bring two films in December. I still haven’t had a chat with Rohit Shetty or Kabir Khan. But one thing is clear that we don’t want to hold the films indefinitely. We would like to bring one film during Christmas and another between January and March, but we have to see when all the states open up,” said Sarkar.
One thing is clear. None of bigwigs want a clash at this point.
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