EXCLUSIVE: Industry suffered loss of 3000-4000 cr in last lockdown; theater owners tensed, reveals Girish Johar

With partial lockdown imposed in several parts of the country and a complete lockdown being contemplated in the state of Maharashtra, the entertainment industry is yet again at a standstill. The COVID 19 cases across the country are spiking at an unbelievable level. With a shortage in vaccine supplies and lack of medical facilities available, the cases have alarmed everyone. Last year around the same time, the entire nation was in lockdown including the showbiz industry. An estimated 500 crores loss was endured by the industry alone in April 2020. As soon as things were slowly getting back with Roohi bringing back a section of the audience even with restrictions imposed, the current situation is not comforting. We spoke to producer and trade expert Girish Johar about the situation and tried to understand the tension palpable within the industry. Over to him.

How do you see the situation currently in the industry with major markets shutting shops, films being postponed yet again? Is the fear looming back?

Girish Johar: The fear is upon us again. Many states have gone under many stringent restrictions, there have been partial lockdown and curfews in various cities across the country. So what happens is say, the curfew starts from 8 PM, then technically the theatres in the city that are open will have to have their last show at 5 because they need to wind up by curfew time. The 50% cap is there and the primetime for people to come to theatres is again curtailed, so it has hampered the business. The audience is scared as well so it is a very thin area for films. Entertainment is a leisure activity, we know that. We can’t expect the audience to buy a ticket, and come to theatres, in these times.

Whatever recovery we were having starting with the Tenet, Godzilla, Roohi also did some numbers, all of this is now derailed and this time I am fearing it is worse. We have already suffered the previous year, we lost close to 1000 cinemas. Now, if we go into derailed recovery again, I don’t know how many screens we will lose again. That’s a bad sign.

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3000-4000 crores of Box Office Lost in 2020; history to repeat itself?

We all know that the last one was completely wiped out, so roughly around 3000-4000 crores of the box office were completely washed away. This year again we were expecting a good start from April onwards or mid-March onwards with releases lined up. Having said that assuming Bunty Aur Babli 2 would have come and Sooryavanshi, Chehre would have come, I am sure cumulative at least 150-200 crore box office surely would have pumped by the releases were normal and cases were low which is foregone now.

The entire entertainment industry has gone for a toss. This time, it has been hit much harder. we were hit hard before as well but we tried to stand up on our feet but this is again a bad low… we hope we recover fast.

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Do you see producers now willing to release their films on OTT again with the theatres closed and no update on normalcy?

That is an individual decision. If the cases are rising and normalcy doesn’t come fast… then they might have to. The clock for the cost of money invested is ticking, which is continuously going on, with the cost rising, so if they get a lucrative deal with an OTT platform, I don’t think he will wait for cinemas to reopen. The producer will want to encash and not want to take a risk. It is an individual producer’s decision.

Situation grim for single-screen theatres

It is very bad for single screens. I am in regular touch with the owners and they have gone berserk. The worst part is the regular taxes and the expenditure for whatever salaries they are paying to the team, the administrative expenses for keeping up the cinema, electricity charges, minimum charges, property rentals, so all of these are still there, but the revenue is not there. It is a big toll ask, it is a bad situation for them.

Also Read: IFTPC writes to Maha CM to treat industry as an essential service in wake of state lockdown talks

Bhavna Agarwal

Assistant Editor at Bollywood Bubble. An ambivert who is currently high on K-dramas and K-Pop. A forever Bollywood fan, who continues to gush over solid stories and characters. Hit me up for a fine conversation over chai.

You can also reach me on – https://twitter.com/filmybugB