Cinema hall strike continues, Thugs of Hindostan may not be screened in Madhya Pradesh

BHOPAL: Another bad news for movie watchers. Viewers in the state may not be able to watch in cinema halls—Thugs of Hindostan— one of the most-awaited movies of the year — at the time of release next month due to cinema hall owners ongoing strike. With producers’ lobby in Bollywood sticking to its guns, chances of viewers watching new releases in cinema halls look slim at least till polls are over.Producers want scrapping of additional tax on cinema tickets. On Thursday, the strike entered 13th day.
Bhopal Cine Association was hoping to restart film shows after fresh Friday releases. But Bollywood producers refused to release movies to single screen cinema halls, said Mohammad Azizuddin, president, Bhopal Cine Association.
“We wanted to have a compromise by having south Indian films dubbed in Hindi in Bhopal’s cinema halls, but that too was denied,” he said. He said cinema halls of Bhopal have already incurred a loss of Rs 3 crore so far. In case of the state, the figure can be manifold. The losses would further mount as the festival period business and release like ‘Thugs of Hindostan’ are also likely to be missed.
Multiplex Association of India CEO Rajnish Sahay was not available for comment. His mobile was in switch-off mode.
Bollywood sources said powerful producers’ lobby in Mumbai film industry among others, who control country’s multiplex business, refused to call off the strike.
The business from multiplexes of Madhya Pradesh is about 3% of country’s collection and it would go down if new taxes continued to be levied, sources said.
“Till the strike of multiplexes continues, we are forced to keep single screen cinema halls close,” Azizuddin said. And till stalemate continues, there will be no film shows in 252 single screen cinema halls and some 113 screens of multiplexes across Madhya Pradesh.
Cinema halls and multiplexes went on strike against additional entertainment tax of up to 20% of the cinema ticket imposed by urban local bodies. The state government delegated powers to urban local bodies to impose additional entertainment tax through a legislation in the state assembly.
Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) was among the first civic bodies in the state to impose the tax — 5% on tickets up to Rs100, 10% on tickets between Rs100 and Rs200 and 15% on ticket beyond that. With GST applicable at the rate of 28% for cinema tickets of more than Rs100 and an additional 15% municipal tax,total tax on a multiplex ticket has gone up to 43%. Price of the ticket would not be hiked but the margin of cinema hall and multiplex owners would be decreased. Besides, the BMC is also taking a Rs 200 tax on every show from all multiplexes and single screen cinema halls which is Rs 50 per show in other parts of MP.
Azizuddin said additional tax would lead to closure of single screen cinema halls. In Bhopal, only nine out of 18 cinema halls are operational. In Indore, only nine out of 22 are being run.
For movie buffs, the wait for end of strike gets longer.