The death of single-screen theatres in India: Over 20,000 shut down in 3 decades, last 5,500 fight for survival

According to a study published in the Global Media Journal by Sreesanth K, Kozhikode Taluk of Kerala alone had 58 theaters, including in A, B and C centres. Now, more than 40 of them have stopped exhibiting films. Most of these cinema halls were replaced by commercial complexes and other establishments.

“Around 10 years ago, we had 3600 single screen theaters in Andhra Pradesh, now it is reduced to 1600 only,” says Vijayendra Reddy, President, Telangana Exhibitors Association. “Of the remaining 1600, a few will be converted into multiplexes, others are turning them into commercial places. Many are planning to shut down permanently, this year another 200 screens will be closed forever.”

Anand Talkies, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. (Photo credit: Hemant Chaturvedi)

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G Venkatesh Reddy, Managing Director of Mukunda Theatre in Bengaluru, Karnataka told First Day First Show that in every town, only 1 out of 3 theaters are functional. He said, “From 1600 theaters, we now have 500, and many of them are non-functional currently. We are very near to the time when we will be left with just 50-100 theaters.”

Bihar had about 200 theaters before COVID-19 but only 45 of them started operations again, according to The Citizen, and many of them are planning to shut shop permanently. Once these theatres ran housefull shows, now they barely get any footfalls. Rafi Ahman Khan, 60, manager of Prem Talkies in Gaya told The Citizen that he would earlier have to lock himself in his room as impatient cine lovers demanded tickets for shows that were running full-capacity. Now Prem Talkies, which has a capacity of 460, just gets 15-20 viewers for a single show. “At present we are open for poor people, who do not have money to watch in multiplexes,” said Rafi.

What went wrong?

In an ecosystem where cinema itself is reeling under the onslaught of OTT and the internet, film theatres as the first choice for entertainment have lost their sheen. The challenges began in the 90s when big multiplex chains like PVR (1990), Cinepolis (2001) and INOX (2002) came into the market with upgraded screens, technology and brought tremendous change to moviegoing experience by introducing quality cinema watching experience.

Previously known as Narayanaswamy Theatre in Sathankulam, Tamil Nadu, the massive building now stays abandoned. (Photo credit: Hemant Chaturvedi)

“Previously, single screen theaters were the only source of entertainment. Now, OTT and electronic media like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram have brought entertainment to your personal screens. When you are getting to watch a film within weeks on your mobile or television, why will anybody come to the theater and spend on the film and travelling? They come to watch movies only when it’s really good”, said Nitin Datar, President, Cinematograph Owners & Exhibitors’ Association (COEAI). He is also the owner of Uday Cinema in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar.

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“Earlier, people had to return to theaters to watch a film if they liked a particular scene, today they can forward, skip and repeat if they like or dislike a particular scene and watch it at their leisure. During COVID-19 pandemic, everybody got used to the small screen and majority of them are comfortable with that. Reasons why the public chooses to step out only when there is good cinema in the theaters. That happens only after they read reviews”, added Nitin Datar.

Reddy also points out how reviews make or break the film on the first day, shrinking the earning oppurtunity drastically. “Social media is our biggest enemy. A lot of people use it negatively to kill a film’s chances. They are just reading these reviews and not considering watching the film at all,” says Reddy.

Nitin Datar added, “Earlier, for a film to be a flop, it used to take three days — Friday, Saturday, Sunday. In these three days, exhibitors used to make good collections. Hence, the percentage of flops were lesser. Now, due to WhatsApp and other social media handles, viewers get to know if a film is good or bad on Friday itself and the film flops on the same day.”

Karthikayan Theatre, Arani, Tamil Nadu. (Photo: Hemant Chaturvedi)

Burdened by overhead costs

Even as their businesses shrink, single screens are burdened by overhead costs. “Previously, our business did well, so it wasn’t hard to pay for the daily expenses and other taxes levied by the government. There were multiple other taxes, other than just entertainment tax. Now the scenario has changed, the public has not been coming to the cinemas, but the expenses remain the same. And despite collecting such heavy taxes for over 75 years from us, the government has hardly put any money in the exhibition sector. They are only interested in investing money in film cities; every state wants to make its own film city. If the theaters are closing down, especially in the areas where there are no multiplexes (tier 2, tier 3), how are they going to exhibit cinemas?,” asks Nitin Datar.

He explains why so many theatres never opened after the pandemic. “Majority of cinemas didn’t open at all because they were burdened by liabilities. To get a new film, you need to pay the property taxes, you need to pay the minimum electricity bills. You need to pay advance to the distributors to get the film, you have to maintain the theater, screens need to be changed, sound systems had damaged. If not used, electronic items get damaged. We had to buy them and we didn’t have the money. We asked the government to help us but no help was forthcoming.”

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Vijayendra Reddy added, “During summers, we used to have at least 20% more earnings compared to regular times. Now, no films came out due to elections and IPL, and we incurred heavy losses.”

Jumna Talkies, now abandoned, in the city of Haridwar. (Photo: Hemant Chaturvedi)

Maharashtra government did introduce a tax-free scheme for single-screen theaters for five years, which helped many theater owners in the region upgraded their theaters by introducing 2k projectors etc. However, it was discontinued after the Central government introduced GST. Many of them also complained about paying commercial electricity rates even as those levied on small-scale industries are much lesser.

The multiplex challenge

Additionally, competing with the high-standards of multiplexes has been a real challenge for these theater owners. Upgrading their theaters with the latest trends and technology has not been everybody’s cup of tea.

“The technology keeps changing, the current trend is to have laser projector. After investing crores in it, I can use this projector for hardly six years before the new technology kicks in. Now, in these six years, I will have to make sure I earn what I invested, which with the current business seems impossible. Then there’s the trend of atmos sound, now to upgrade to it, I need to buy a new server and everything else, which are additional costs. Not all of us can afford that. People are very choosy, they pick their comfort, say owners of Veeresh Cinemas.

“Many foreign companies have made their own laws in India under which they have decided to not supply 2k projectors to single screen cinemas. Unless you don’t have these 2k projectors which cost up to ₹30 to 40 lakhs, it’s not possible for small cinemas where the ticket prices are maximum ₹40 to purchase such projectors. It has become one of the biggest challenges, depriving us of playing Hollywood films like Godzilla and Avatar in our theaters,”complained Datar.

Datar says even if the exhibitors upgrade their properties, if the content won’t be good, then it will make no sense. “I don’t know if the producers today are working in their bubbles. The content they are producing today is not for the single-screen audiences. Majority of the films that are being produced are for multiplexes. And our balcony audience have shifted to multiplexes. There’s no healthy mix of mass and class films.”

Owners of Mukunda Theatre say that other film industries should follow the example set by Malayalam film industry. “We ask for high quality cinema. When we say quality, we don’t mean to say high production value film, we are just asking what Malayalam movies are doing — rich content. We need to study the Malayalam film industry. How’s it that they are so successful and we are struggling at the same time? We need to introspect, we need to question ourselves. We need to understand today’s generation and what they want. We need people who can think in that direction. That’s where we are lacking,” added the owners of Mukunda theater and Veeresh Cinema.

Need for government help

“The government had come up with a policy, especially for multiplexes in which they proposed that these multiplexes don’t have to pay entertainment tax for five years. In those five years, these multiplexes made major profits. But when single screens asked for a similar policy, the government didn’t approve it. Multiplexes which came in 2000 got all benefits, and those of us who paid taxes for so long were ignored,”claimed Datar.

In Uttar Pradesh, the government introduced a policy which permitted the theater owners to convert their single screen theaters into multiplexes. But, due to no subsidy or financial help, the policy didn’t work out in the favour of the owners. Now, the government has allowed these theater owners to completely renovate their properties after obtaining a ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC) from the Entertainment Tax department.