On the first day after Tamil Nadu Government permitted theatres to open, only around 30% of the cinema houses opened in six southern districts on Tuesday.
However, only lower patronage was reported in all the theatres in Madurai, Virudhunagar, Theni, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts.
“It is a big relief for all of us as our cinemas remained locked for over seven months,” said M. Rathnakumar of Virudhunagar, secretary of Theatre Owners’ Association.
However, the lower turnout is said to be due lack of publicity and absence of new releases. “Besides, Tuesday has always been a day with the lowest patronage,” Mr. Rathnakumar said.
In Madurai, two theatres screened movies on Tuesday.
Kallanai theatre in Vandiyur here was one of them. “As a matter of sentiment, we released MGR-starrer ‘Ninaithathai Mudippavan’ just to reflect our thoughts to win over the present crisis,” said its owner M. Balaji Kannan (39).
Though there were only two persons for the first show at 12 noon, the show went on as scheduled. In the other two shows, only a handful of fans had turned up.
President of Theatre Owners’ Association R. Kannan of Madurai said the new releases would attract more fans. He said theatre owners would meet on Wednesday to discuss the opening of all theatres.
However, Mr. Rathnakumar hoped that all theatres in the State would open with new movies are promised to be released on Deepavali day. But, he was quick to add saying that only films of big stars will help the cinema halls to break even.
“No other platform will be able to give the feel and joy of movie watching like that of a theatre. It’s not only because of the big screens and better audio system, but also due to the sheer presence of huge number of fans,” he added.
