Madhur Bhandarkar- Watching movies in theater is completely different experience and cannot be replaced
The Union Home Ministry’s Unlock 4 guidelines are out and they still do not allow cinema halls to resume operations in September too. As the battle for Bollywood gets worse with OTT and theatres still locked in the post-COVID world, hashtags like #SupportMovieTheatres and #SaveIndianCinema have been gaining trend on social media. In an interview with a news portal, filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar spoke about the possibility of films releasing on the big screen, anxiety of people coming back to theatres, and more.
He said on the interview that we have been watching films in theatres for ages now. The magic of cinema is completely different in the dark theatre when you are sitting with your family, friends and even strangers you have no acquaintance to. That is altogether a different kind of experience. It is sort of a ritual for the movie buffs. If the theatres open, people will surely come to the theatres. I have people I know who keep telling me how bored they are to sit and watch movies at home on their television, computers, and phones. They want to come out and watch them in theatres again. I don’t know how much capacity the government will allow us to come out in the theatres. We will know once the SOPs come for the theatres. In India, as they say, cricket and cinema are like religions. And theatre is a huge and popular platform for films.
