Budget 2021: Exhibitors seek capacity expansion, content creators want more clarity on regulation Exhibitors seek capacity expansion; content creators want more clarity on regulation as distressed filmmakers make a beeline for budgetary sops
In 2016, when Satyajit Ray’s son went to the Bhowanipore area in Kolkata, he was distraught to see two iconic cinema halls that once featured his maestro father’s classics, shut down forever. A newspaper quoted him as saying he was `heartbroken’. But if cinema halls faced an uncertain future then, stampeded by the arrival of fancy multiplexes, the threat of COVID-19 is an altogether different proposition. India has already seen closure of about 1,000 theatres in 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic. To save the rest from disintegration, harried cinema owners are seeking relief measures from the government in the upcoming Budget.