The movie halls in Kozhikode are yet to wake up to the court order that playing the national anthem is no longer mandatory before each movie screening.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday left the decision of whether or not to play the national anthem before each movie screening to the discretion of movie hall owners.
The order came as a relief for many movie-goers in the city who had felt that playing the national anthem was inappropriate for the particular occasion.
However, many movie hall owners in Kozhikode may continue to play it before movies.
“We haven’t got any official communication. We cannot take any action based on a newspaper report,” said Sooraj, the manager of Regal Cinemas in Kozhikode.
‘No problems’
However, the management did not have any problem continuing with the already established routine. “We never had any problem playing the national anthem. The movie goers here have always been respectful to it,” he said, adding that they would continue to play the anthem for the time being.
Crown Cinema has an entirely different reason for continuing to play the anthem.
Wildlife conservation
“We took an effort to procure a copy of the wildlife version of the national anthem. As wildlife enthusiasts we take it as an opportunity to drive home the message of wildlife conservation,” said A.R. Vinod, the owner of the movie hall. The wildlife version was much appreciated by movie goers here.
“Personally I do not feel that playing national anthem before movies was appropriate. People come to movie halls for fun,” he said. He vouched that nobody had complained about having to stand up for the anthem in his cinema.
Meanwhile, the president of the Kerala Film Distributors’ Association, Siyad Koker, told The Hindu that his association was yet to discuss the order or form a plan of action.
