Viruses and apps raise fears for Bollywood cinemas

• By Udita Jhunjhunwala and Vishal Manve / AFP, MUMBAI

A face of Bollywood actors tattooed on his arm, the devotion of Sandeep Bacches does not shock little in India where the stars enjoy a semi-divine status, but even there, the sanctified silver screen could lose its brightness in favor of services. streaming and pandemic fears.

Whenever things get better and the theaters start running, I will watch three movies a day for sure, as a way to celebrate, said the Mumbai rickshaw driver, who is recovering from virus.

Others, however, may not join the party.

Photo: AFP

With cinemas closed for months due to COVID-19 locking, and unlikely to reopen soon, frustrated Bollywood producers turned to Amazon, Netflix and Disney + Hotstar to release movies online .

Gulabo Sitabo, with Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, premiered on Amazon Prime last month. Other Hindi films have followed a similar path, as have the huge film industries in the Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam languages.

This sparked the fury of cinema operators.

INOX Leisure Ltd, the second multiplex operator in India, has warned producers of possible compensation measures.

Movie stars are not made on the small screen but on the silver screen, said INOX executive director Siddharth Jain.

However, noting the financial strength of the competition, he said: No business model in the world can compete with free money and Netflix is ​​nothing but free money.

Shoojit Sircar, who directed Gulabo Sitabo, said that going digital was a difficult decision, but financial constraints pushed him to do so.

Lots of technicians depend on me, said Sircar. The magic of cinema cannot be replaced by a TV, iPad or laptop experience, but I had to move on.

India has the most prolific film industry in the world, producing nearly 1,800 releases in 2018. Stars are worshiped like gods, fans building temples and making pilgrimages to their homes.

Going to the movies also remains an extremely popular and affordable activity, with 75 rupees (US $ 1) buying three hours of entertainment in an air-conditioned movie theater.

However, with more than half of India’s population under the age of 30, and many of them consuming entertainment on mobile phones, Netflix began to make inroads even before the launch of COVID-19.

Hotstar, the market leader now owned by Disney, had 300 million monthly active users in 2018, offering free content and other shows only to subscribers. The judgment only accelerated the change.

For years, Mumbai-based teacher Nigel DSouza, 27, was one of the reluctants, preferring to watch movies in cinemas.

However, when India locked out at the end of March, he bit the bullet and subscribed to both Amazon Prime at an aggressive price in India at just 129 rupees a month and Netflix.

He is now addicted.

It was very cheap … because we don’t spend money on popcorn or expensive trips, he said. In addition, he discovered that he could watch any number of movies … without worrying about the virus.

Vijay Subramaniam, content manager of Amazon Primes for India, said the company was not looking to close cinemas.

Theaters play an important role in the distribution of films and we are not looking to change that, he said.

However, he added: As technology continues to change this landscape, customer preferences as to what to watch and where will continue to evolve.

Meanwhile, cinemas are preparing for the end of the foreclosure, which would result in strict rules that further erode their profit margins.

Some seats should be left empty and movie theaters should be thoroughly disinfected after each performance.

However, this is not all the unhappiness and sadness.

The cinematic experience is rooted in our blood … [it] will never go out of style, said Girish Johar, a Mumbai-based film trade analyst.

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