People are grudgingly watching movies at home: PVR CEO
Paperless tickets, sanitisation cabinets, empty seats—PVR Cinemas CEO Gautam Dutta talks about why cinemas must reopen and with what precautions, and what they can achieve against OTT rivals once back in the race
Gautam Dutta, CEO of PVR Cinemas
The Multiplex Association of India (MAI) on September 15 appealed to the government—via advertisements in newspapers and on social media—to allow theatres to reopen. The cinema exhibition industry is estimated to have lost close to Rs9,000 crore in the six months of lockdown. The advertisement says over 84 countries, including China, the UK and US, among others, have opened theatres while maintaining safety protocols and got an encouraging response. Gautam Dutta, CEO of PVR Cinemas—a member of MAI—talks to Forbes India about how badly India’s cinema owners have been affected. Edited excerpts:
How bad is the situation for the cinema industry?
The revenues have been zero. About 3,500 to 4,000 people had to be laid off, and certain services like housekeeping and security had to suffer the most. Now that malls are back in action, we are hoping that we get a nod from the government to reopen.
How has PVR managed to survive in this period?
It's been difficult. The team came together to make a plan to help us get through the circumstances… the senior management was the first to take a voluntary salary cut. For the first two months, we completely insulated our staff. But as days and months went by, the cuts became slightly heavier.
Why is reopening of cinemas taking so long?
I think it's perception, but defeats logic. I feel the government has taken a precautionary step and we respect the decision. But we need to move forward. Our appeal was to draw attention to the film industry and to say we are suffering. There are livelihoods of a lot of people involved and the industry has taken a lot of brunt in the last six months.
What kind of procedures are likely to be followed once cinemas reopen?
Paperless tickets, sanitisers and masks for staff as well as patrons will be in place. We have sanitisation cabinets where all packaging and food will get sanitised. We have recommended that one seat should be left vacant for a group of five. We have also imported an anti-bacterial film, which is wrapped on every handle and lift buttons.
