4 months and 2 weeks. Around 130-135 days. That’s how long theatres in Kerala have been closed due to the rise of Coronavirus cases, thanks to the second wave of the Covid-19. However, theatre owners in the Southern state are hopeful of resuming screening of movies by the end of this month. Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK) are taking the recent responses of the chief minister and minister for cinema as positive and are preparing to open theatres in time to screen the upcoming Bond Film, ‘No Time to Die‘ – which drops on September 30th 2021, around the globe.
K Vijayakumar, the president of FEUOK has consulted with health experts and have found that Covid-19 cases will be reducing (hopefully) by the end of this month, while the vaccination drive will continue to progress well. This coupled with the fact that both the offices of the CM and minister of cinema are in touch with the FEOUK, is a good sign. With theatres around the country slowly opening up, it shouldn’t be long before theatres in Kerala open too.
The COVID graph will be closely monitored up to the 15th of this month before approaching the Government to allow theatres to open at 50 percent capacity while allowing four shows daily. And if everything works out well, then in two weeks, the Pooja holidays will start. By then, big Malayalam movies like ‘Marakkar — Arabaikkadalinte Simham’, ‘Thuramukham’ and ‘Kurup’ will be getting ready to be released by that time.
Still, the third wave of the Covid-19 is supposed to hit the country at its worst during October, with the best-case scenario being 1 lakh cases per day (supposedly). While we do see that things are improving, hopefully, it is not the calm before the storm.