I&B Ministry Recommends Cinema Halls To Reopen In August

A new recommendation from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to the Union Home Ministry states that the cinema halls around the country must be allowed to operate from August 2020.

Amit Khare, who is serving as an I&B Secretary. gave this indication on an industry interaction with the CII Media Committee on Friday, but he further added that the final decision on the matter would be taken by Ajay Bhalla who is from the Home Ministry. As per Khaare’s recommendation on the matter, he proposed that the cinema halls can be opened from August 1 – or at the latest, around August 31, in terms of taking necessary precautions he suggested that the alternate seats in the first row and then the next row can be kept empty and in the similar fashion it can be followed throughout.

Khare, in addition to it, said that the recommendation from the ministry will follow the 2-meter social distancing norm, but will gently pull it to 2 yards of distancing instead. The Home Ministry has not yet finalized the recommendation forwarded and still need to take the final call on the matter. Cinema owners on the other hand seem to be dissatisfied with the suggestion and said that it is better to keep the cinema halls shut rather than running it with 25% auditorium capacity. The people who attended the meeting were from media, CEOs of several TV channels, OTT platforms, and more, along with the Chairman of the CII Media Committee.