Top court order apart, theatres in city likely to continue with Anthem

From the response of theatre and multiplex owners across Chennai, it looks like there’s not going to be much change.

Abirami Ramanathan, president, Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners and Distributors Association, said, “We will soon hold a meeting to discuss the outcome of the Supreme Court decision but personally, I would prefer that all theatres continue playing the anthem. It’s a great measure to instill some patriotic values in people, and we see no problem in continuing the practice.” 

When asked if the initiative will cut into valuable ad space before the film begins, a source from a popular multiplex in town said, “True, but that’s only during the peak season festivals like Pongal, Deepavali and so on. We could perhaps stop playing the anthem then and continue to do so at other times. We are even contemplating replacing it with maybe Vande Mataram, which is also a terrific song.” 

It does seem to be a done decision among most theatre owners, old and new. Subramaniam, owner of the popular Kasi Theatre, said he too would prefer to keep the Anthem playing. “As of tonight, we are still playing it. But ultimately, it’s up to the people’s preferences. If there is opposition from their side, we will stop. 

Similarly, we can’t be the only place in town playing this, if the other centres stop. But I hope it continues – in other countries, so much respect is paid to the Anthem.. but here, kids are not even aware of the same,” he rued. Vetri theatre proprietor Rakesh added, “There were issues while implementing the practice initially, but now after all the effort has been put in – why stop? In case a film is too long – let’s say, three hours or more – then we could consider not playing it once in a while.”