Locals say cinema halls dying out in Jharkhand, owners cite pandemic to switch to other businesses

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], August 29 : The condition of the entertainment industry in Jharkhand, particularly its cinema halls are in a very bad situation as many proprietors have diverted to other businesses due to losses during the corona pandemic, say locals.
Rohit Aggarwal, who wons 'Minakshi Cinema' one of the oldest and prestigious cinema theatres has turned the facility into a godown.
"There is no scope in cinema; it has been more than three years that we switched our profession from cinema to godown. Almost every cinema in Jharkhand is closed now, whatever was left there dud to corona it came to end", Aggarwal said.
Due to the pandemic, the industry has suffered a lot in the last one and a half years.
Rajan Verma, who used to run his 'Beatle shop' outside the Plaza cinema, said, "Plaza Hall has been closed for more than a year due to corona. The situation of the hall is so bad that no one even thinks of visiting it".
Adding to this, Imran, a local who works as a bike mechanic outside the cinema hall said, there are so many halls in Ranchi that have been shut now due to corona. Also, people here have lost the cinema craze because of mobile accessibility and in near future, it will adversely affect the industry further, he said.
Rishi Prakash Mishra, Producer, director, and chairman of the Jharkhand film festival pointed out the government's negligent attitude contributed toward the poor condition of the film industry.
"The entertainment industry in Jharkhand has almost vanished. New governments negligent towards the industry is the result that out of 50 cinemas only nine cinemas are now operational in Jharkhand and in Ranchi only five are running out of the total 9", Mishra said.
A large number of people dependant on this profession have been rendered jobless. If there are any functional, viewers are not there to watch" he said.