A couple of days back, the projector man at Prasads Multiplex in Khairatabad, Hyderabad committed suicide because he was worried that he will not get paid from the next month onwards. All these days the staff of the multiplexes were paid in full and then they began giving half payments. Since there is no hint at all as to when the theatres will open, the staff are left worried about the future. This is the situation just not in Hyderabad but every place in the country. Appealing to the government to allow theatres to reopen “on an urgent basis”, the Multiplex Association of India on Tuesday said the movie exhibition sector that provides employment to lakhs of people had lost an estimated Rs 9,000 crore in the last six months.
The cinema body, which represents all the multiplex chains, including, PVR, INOX and Cinepolis, said the sector directly employs more than two lakh people and provides employment to lakhs indirectly. Describing movies as the “soft power of India” and cinemas the main form of entertainment for millions of Indians, the association said close to 10,000 cinema screens across the country had been shut for close to six months. The movie exhibition sector has suffered financially and is now staring at job losses unless the government allows theatres to reopen, it said. The appeal, with the hashtag UnlockCinemaSaveJobs, was published as full page advertisements in some newspapers and also posted on Twitter.
