India / Theatres to reopen from Oct 15 with 50% capacity as govt announces new guidelines

New Delhi: Cinema halls across the country will reopen from October 15. According to Unlock 5.0 guidelines released by the Union Home Ministry on Wednesday, theaters will be permitted to open outside containment zones with up to 50% of their seating capacity, for which, SOP will soon be issued by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry said that Cinemas/ theatres/ multiplexes will be permitted to open with up to 50 per cent of their seating capacity, for which, standard operating procedures (SOPs) will be issued by the ministry, the Government of India said in its latest guidelines.

The government said that for re-opening of schools and coaching institutions, the states government have been given the flexibility to take a decision after October 15. Parental consent has been made mandatory for asking pupils to come to schools, the new guidelines further said.

The announcement has come as a relief to exhibitors and theater owners as cinema halls have been closed in the country since mid-March.

Reacting to the news, film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi, who has a chain of cinemas across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, told indianexpress.com, “I could cry right! This is such big news for us. Finally, after months of dejection, we got this. Of course, now individual states have to decide but finally, the ball has got rolling. There’s some beginning. We now wait for the I&B Ministry to lay out the guidelines.”

It may be noted that social/ academic/ sports/ entertainment/ cultural/ religious/ political functions and other congregations have already been permitted with a ceiling of 100 persons, outside COVID19 containment zones by the government. In the newly-issued re-opening guidelines, the government, however, underlined that strict enforcement of lockdown will be enforced in containment zones till October 31.