Movie theatres in Kerala can open from January 5, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said during a press meet. However, only 50% occupancy of the seats shall be allowed and all COVID-19 restrictions issued by the health department should be followed.
“For nearly a year now, movie theatres have been fully closed in the state. This has led to a big crisis for the thousands of people working in the film industry. Considering this, a decision has been taken to open film theatres with certain restrictions. Strict action will be taken against those theatres which do not abide by these restrictions. Since the theatres have been closed for so long, they should be disinfected before being opened on January 5,” said CM Pinarayi.
The decision comes days ahead of the release of the Tamil film Master, starring Vijay. Kerala is known to have a huge fan base for the Tamil star.
Hours earlier, it was announced that Mohanlal's film Drishyam 2, the sequel to the 2013 movie Drishyam, directed by Jeethu Joseph, will be released online on the OTT platform Amazon Prime. Drishyam was a massive success and therefore the sequel is one of the most anticipated films of the star. However, Liberty Basheer, president of Kerala Film Exhibitors Association, was not happy with the decision and spoke to several media about his disappointment.
In an interview to The Cue, he said that the sincerity that Vijay showed to theatre owners and the film industry was not shown by Mohanlal, who is also the president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (A.M.M.A.). It is a huge betrayal shown to theatre owners and the film industry, he said. Liberty Basheer also said that Antony Perumbavoor, the producer of the film and president of Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK), should never have done this 'injustice'. Since there was a huge audience for the first part of the film, there would have been a number of people showing up in theatres for the sequel and it would have helped the industry which has been going through a big loss, Basheer said.
Film theatres in Kerala have been closed since March 10, days ahead of the national lockdown was announced to contain the spread of COVID-19. The state government allowed film shootings to resume in June, following certain restrictions.