Inox theatre at Panaji being sanitized after it opened at 50 per cent capacity. Narayan Pissurlenkar.
PANAJI: INOX multiplexes in Panaji and Margao have finally opened for the audience and will be operating on 50% seating capacity following the government SOPs regarding Covid and the curfew norms.
While the INOX audience prefers to watch Hollywood and Bollywood movies, the regional language cinema viewers will be missing their piece of entertainment as the private theatres in the State have not yet reopened, as for them it is unaffordable to work with 50% capacity. Also, there are very few new releases as Bollywood also had a very bad year due to pandemic and various other reasons.
After Sushant Singh Rajput’s mysterious death on June 13, the Bollywood fans have turned away from their favourite entertainers in support of the deceased hero.
"I have decided not to watch any Bollywood movie henceforth," claimed a cinema lover from Margao, who used to watch a Hindi movie every weekend at INOX.
In Goa, the cinema halls will be operated by fully vaccinated teams and the theatres will be sanitised after every screening and the public has to adhere to strict Covid appropriate behaviour. Wearing masks, e-ticketing, contactless payments and temperature checks would be compulsory for the viewers.
The theatre operators will still have a tough time getting new releases every week, as the theatres in the neighbouring states are still shut. With only 50% of the seats occupied, and the salaries of the employees as well the theatre maintenance cost remaining the same, the theatre owners may have to adhere to new techniques of luring the audience to make up for the lost revenues.
