Coronavirus: India film industry could take two years to recover
Al JazeeraFilm industry lost box office revenue of about $130m from March to mid-May as theatres are shut down due to lockdown. India’s film industry, purveyor of song-and-dance spectacles to millions, will take at least two years to recover financially from the coronavirus pandemic, which is threatening big-ticket projects, putting at risk tens of thousands of jobs. “We will have to beg people to come to cinema halls.” Such dim prospects, even after the lockdown is lifted, threaten the box office takings that make up 60 percent of industry earnings, spurring producers to say big-budget films and extravagant shoots in foreign locations will be shelved. “Even after they lift the lockdown, I’d expect the psyche of a lot of people would be to avoid crowded places.” Bollywood has come to a grinding halt, with film production and theatres shut nationwide, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi imposed a 21-day lockdown, which was extended by 19 days, to curb the virus, which has infected more than 35,000 people and killed nearly 1,150 in India, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Industry figures show India makes 1,200 films in a typical year, but Taurani sees big-budget movies getting pushed into the next fiscal year, as production houses battle a liquidity crunch amid falling box office revenues.