The Hindi film industry is the largest film industry in India, and also contributes heavily to the country’s growth. It employs tens and thousands of people for shoots and events which happen all round the year. The industry which could possibly never stop , now stands still due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The film industry lost box office revenue of about $130m from march to mid may as the theatres are shut down since the lockdown on march 22. This can lead to a long term impact on the functioning of the industry. About 9,500 theatres are shut, and business at multiplexes and single-screen cinemas are unlikely to see large public gatherings for a film release. The film industry figures show that India makes 1,200 films in a typical year but now the big budget movies will get pushed to the next fiscal year due to liquidity crunch amid falling box office revenues.
For example, the expected date for release of multi-starrer franchise Suryavanshi is postponed indefinitely till the conditions get back to normal. So was that of 83, a sports biopic about India’s World Cup winning cricket team. According to a movie trade analyst, Hindi cinema had done a business of 4300 crore but this year the two films released , Angrezi Medium and Baaghi 3, have incurred huge losses because of the lockdown.
From a superstar to a spot boy, the coronavirus has impacted everyone associated with the film industry. But as always , the bollywood’s daily wage worker will have to bear the brunt of a conflagration