Relenting to the Kannada movie trade’s demand, the Karnataka authorities deferred imposing 50 per cent seating in about 200 cinema theatres in eight districts to April 7 to comprise the Covid pandemic, an official mentioned on Sunday.
“The order proscribing 50 per cent of seating capability in cinema halls in eight districts, together with Bengaluru the place Covid circumstances have been rising can be relevant from Wednesday (April 7) as much as April 20,” a civic official instructed IANS.
The opposite seven districts throughout the southern state are Bengaluru Rural, Bidar, Dakshina Kannada, Dharwad, Kalaburagi, Mysuru and Udupi.
To cut back the surging circumstances, state Chief Secretary P. Ravikumar on April 2 ordered theatres within the eight districts to limit seating to 50 per cent of their capability from Saturday to take care of social distancing and observe Covid applicable behaviour.
“A revised order was issued on Saturday to use the restriction from April 7, as a whole bunch of followers purchased on-line tickets prematurely for all reveals until Tuesday (April 6) for movies launched on Friday and imposing the restriction would have disillusioned them and brought about loss to the movie trade,” mentioned the official.
A Karnataka Movie Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) delegation, led by Sandalwood superstars Shivarajkumar, Puneet, Yash and Sudeep urged state Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday to defer the order by just a few days, because the theatres had been following the rules to comprise the virus unfold.
“As theatres have been complying with the rules in power since October, 2020 after they reopened after 6-month lockdown, no optimistic circumstances had been reported from the followers who watched movies of their halls,” KFCC president Jairaj instructed reporters after the state authorities rescinded its earlier order.
One the brand new Kannada movies launched on Thursday was ‘Yuvarathna,’ starring Puneet, second son of matinee idol and Kannada thespian Rajkumar.
“About Rs 40 crore has been invested in making Yuvarathna, a blockbuster. Its producer and distributors would have suffered heavy loss as a result of the price of a present is similar for 100 or 50 per cent seating capability,” asserted Jairaj.
In need of lockdown and night time curfew, the state authorities reimposed stringent restrictions throughout the state until April 20 to comprise the pandemic as circumstances crossed 10-lakh mark on final Thursday, together with over 4.4-lakh in Bengaluru, which has been the epi-centre of the virus that broke out within the state in mid-March, 2020.
The theatres have made carrying a face masks, thermal screening, sustaining social distancing and sanitising arms obligatory to all followers for admission.
