Unlock 3: Night curfew ends, no schools till August 31, gyms can reopen

The goverment ignored demands by cinema hall owners for reopening. Theatres, bars, and places of congregation will also remain shut

Current Affairs: The Centre on Wedenesday issued fresh guidelines as part of ‘Unlock 3’ — the Covid-19-related lifting of restrictions — which scrapped night curfew and allowed gyms and yoga institutes to reopen from August 5. The goverment ignored demands by cinema hall owners for reopening. Theatres, bars, and places of congregation will also remain shut.

As part of ‘Unlock 2’, night curfew was in place from 10 pm to 5 am. This has now been done away with. The move will allow shops, malls, and other establishments to remain open after 10 pm, but not many in the industry were enthused by the relaxation given the poor sales. Other restrictions continue, at least till August 31.

Schools, colleges, and coaching institutes will continue to remain shut. There will be no international air travel or metro rail services either. All other large congregations, including political, social and cultural meetings, remain banned.

An exception has been made for the Independence day celebrations on August 15. The Ministry of Home Affairs had issued guidelines on July 21 for holding the celebrations by maintaining social distancing norms and keeping a check on the number of participants, at the Red Fort in the national capital, and in states and districts…Read More

Coronarvirus intermission? More than 80% of film audience miss theatres

That and more is what ‘Back to the Theatre’, consulting firm Ormax Media’s report on the ‘Expected theatre-going behaviour in India post Covid-19,’ states

This is something squabbling theatre chains, studios, and even over-the-top (OTT) providers should read. Audiences are missing theatres desperately and will go back to them within two-three weeks of them reopening. All those hours of films on television and OTT have not reduced the audience’s need for the theatrical experience. However, the precautions taken for social distancing and sanitisation by theatres will play a crucial role in their decision to visit. They would rather have theatres keep the ticket price unchanged and spend money on implementing safety measures than discount ticket prices.

That and more is what ‘Back to the Theatre’, consulting firm Ormax Media’s report on the ‘Expected theatre-going behaviour in India post Covid-19,’ states. It is based on online interviews with 1,000 people across 58 cities in India.Since Ormax self-funded the research, the sample is small but it is “representative,” asserts Shailesh Kapoor, chief executive officer, Ormax Media. Each of the respondents is a regular theatregoer — watched a film in a theatre at least once in two months.

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More than 80 per cent of the Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu film audience miss the theatres. Note that these are the three largest segments of the Rs 19,100-crore Indian film business. Much of the report is bound bring cheer to the industry. There are, however, two things that could be downers…Read Full Story