A number of cinema theatres openly flouted the government’s order mandating cinema theatres to stick to five shows between 9 a.m. and 1.30 a.m. (next day), as Sarkar opened with early-morning shows. The film business community has been saying that the Tamil Nadu government, in regulating the number of shows thus, is trying to implement outdated policies.
In the process, it is losing sizeable tax revenue.
On Deepavali day, actor Vijay’s Sarkar opened to packed theatres across the world. As expected, some popular single-screen theatres on the outskirts of Chennai screened early-morning shows. Some of the theatres started screening Sarkar as early as 4.30 a.m. on November 6. The tickets were priced anywhere between ₹300 to ₹1,000 depending upon the theatre.
Speaking about the need to formalise these early-morning shows, Tirupur Subramaniam, a well-known distributor in western Tamil Nadu, said, “We want to formally seek the State government’s permission to screen early-morning shows. While there could be some theatres that may have flouted the G.O., we are going to tell the exhibitors to follow the rules.”
There have been debates about how the business restrictions are squeezing the industry and enabling the accumulation of ‘black’ money. Journalist and film industry tracker Sreedhar Pillai said deregulating the film business will only add to the revenues since there is enough demand.
No curbs in Kerala
“In Kerala, Sarkar ’s first day has seen record-breaking collections. This is primarily due to the fact that there are no such restrictions in Kerala. Movie theatres are allowed to screen 7 shows over 24 hours. Allowing early-morning shows in Tamil Nadu will add to the revenues in the State,” he added. He also said that the government should think about eventually letting cinema theatres operate for 24 hours.
Preferring to be anonymous, a theatre owner from Chennai whose establishment screened early-morning shows on Deepavali, said that they had to do it to meet the ‘extraordinary demand’ from the fans. The theatre owner asked why the government was bent on controlling the industry when there was more revenue to be made by removing the controls.
“There was incredible demand from the fans and we just catered to it. I don’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to make money. It is not as if we can do it for every film,” said the theatre owner.
