Screengrab  |  Photo Credit: Times Now
Mumbai: Noted Bollywood trade analyst and film critic Komal Nahta on Sunday night cited a ‘reliable source’ as saying that cinema halls in Mumbai have got the permission to reopen from August 1, 2020.
As Nahta dubbed it as “great news”, Twitterati asked him who would go to cinema halls at the time of the pandemic. Notably, the number of coronavirus patients in Mumbai has reached 1,09,096.
With the coronavirus restrictions during ‘Unlock 2.0’ ending on July 31, the government is now coming up with guidelines for ‘Unlock 3.0’. Last week, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had announced that there will be further relaxation in the existing lockdown norms from August 1.
Notably, news agency IANS had on July 25 reported that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has recommended to the Union Home Ministry that movie theatres across the country be permitted to reopen in August.
As per the report, I&B secretary Amit Khare had on July 24 indicated this during a closed-door industry interaction with the CII Media Committee. Khare had reportedly said he has proposed that theatres may be given the go-ahead to reopen all over the country as early as August 1, or around August 31.
He reportedly suggested that a formula, as per which only 25 per cent of the seats in the halls be booked.
Cinema owners, who also attended the meeting, reportedly did not like the idea, contending that running films with this formula is worse than keeping the cinema halls closed.
