Cinema halls in Kolkata remain shut as opening them without a new movie release will mean losses: Hall owner
Aug 01, 2021
Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], August 1 : Despite the West Bengal government's new order allowing cinema theatres to open in Kolkata with 50 per cent capacity, the owners decided to keep the gates shut until the release of a new movie.
From July 31, the state government had allowed the opening of cinema halls with 50 per cent capacity, but owing to the high cost of their running, the cinema owners have decided against it.
Prominent cinema theatres in Kolkata including Basushree, Navina, Inox, Menoka remained shut today.
Speaking to ANI, Sourav Bose, owner of cinema hall said, "We'll open the halls but in a while, as sanitization has to be done and currently the staff is insufficient. It'll also take time for us to run the sound systems smoothly."
He also added that presently no new movie is scheduled for release and opening theatres at 50 per cent capacity would be a huge loss for them.
The West Bengal government earlier issued a notification providing relaxations for the cinema theatres to run with 50 per cent sitting capacity although the restrictions in the state will continue till August 15 with a night curfew of 9 pm till 5 am.