Ticket discounts, freebies offered to bring audience back to cinemas across State

With theatres reopening in the city on Tuesday after a 231-day lockdown, cinema lovers across age groups trickled in to watch their favourite movies with all COVID-19 SOPs in place in most screens.

Audiences maintain social distancing at a cinema hall on Tuesday; A small queue for tickets

Kaushik Rajaraman

Chennai

Free popcorns, parking discounts, and a slash on ticket prices were some of the offers to attract the audience.

“I saw an old lady entering the theatre with her grandson to watch the rerun of Bigil at my theatre on GN Chetty Road and was overwhelmed,” said Archana Kalpathi, CEO of AGS Cinemas. The ticket prices in AGS were slashed to Rs 60 despite having an occupancy of 50 per cent. “People do not have to pay for parking as well across our properties except in Navalur as it is inside a mall. This is an effort from our end to invite people and show them how safe are theatres post COVID pandemic,” she added.

Film buffs, however, said it felt weird sitting in between empty seats despite going in groups. BS Srinivasan, a city-based entrepreneur caught up with a screening of Oh My Kadavule along with his cousins. “It felt strange to exchange jokes with friends who are a couple of seats apart. However, we are allowed to go inside after temperature checks and proper sanitisation,” he said.

Tickets have sold out for Dhanush’s 2006 cult-classic Pudhupettai at GK Cinemas. C Ganesh, proprietor of Kamala Cinemas said they will offer free popcorn to enhance the movie-watching experience. “The business is expected to pick up once Deepavali releases are on the big screen,” he said.

Theatres in north TN to open today or on Deepavali

All theatres in Tiruvannamalai town remained closed on Tuesday as it was considered an inauspicious day, sources said. However, movie hall staff spent the entire day getting ready to welcome the crowd from Wednesday. In Vellore, a few theatres opened with the morning show which drew a very limited crowd while others remained shut and most plan to open from Wednesday. In Tirupattur, the five theatres opened but did not run any shows as there were no crowds which, sources revealed, said would visit theatres only when new movies would release on Deepavali. In Ranipet, the two theatres including one at SIPCOT would open only on the festive day.

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