Did you know National Cinema Day drew over 6.5 million viewers to theatres?

On September 23, National Cinema Day was observed to honour the successful reopening of theatres.

File photo of a popular theatre in Mumbai/Twitter

According to the Multiplex Association of India (MAI), around 6.5 million people went to movies on National Cinema Day, which was observed on Friday to mark the successful reopening of movie theatres.

More than 4000 screens from throughout the nation took part in the initiative, including theatre chains like PVR, INOX, Cinepolis, Carnival, Miraj, Citypride, Mukta A2, Movie Time, Wave, M2K, and Delite.

Several movie theatres began showing films on Friday at 6 am, as a part of the one-day celebration, charging a "celebratory admission price" of Rs 75.

Kamal Gianchandani, president of Multiplex Association of India, said in a statement: “People of all ages gathered in the theatres to commemorate this momentous day. We are grateful to the 6.5 million or more moviegoers who visited their neighbourhood theatre to buy tickets, making September 23 the busiest day of the year for the Indian film business.”

Since the COVID-19 outbreak started in March 2020, theatres throughout the country have struggled to draw in a sizable crowd. A good turnout resulted from the National Cinema Day, which was observed weeks after the release of the smash film, Brahmastra: Part One Shiva, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.

Both Chup: Revenge of the Artist by director R Balki and Madhavan's Dhokha: Round D Corner received enthusiastic responses from the theatre-visiting crowd.

Rajender Singh Jyala, chief programming officer, INOX Leisure Ltd. said “All the theatres, all the shows and all the movies are full as the audience are very happy to watch movies at Rs 75. This is going to be the highest footfall day in the history of cinema.”

He told PTI “We had around 6 lakh footfalls at our 702 screens across India. The number one film is Brahmastra as the number of shows are more, followed by Chup, Dhokha: Round D Corner, Avatar and Sita Ramam.”

Jyala believed that efforts like this should be implemented frequently to get audiences to the theatres.

It has been the "most spectacular" day for theatres in the nation, according to exhibitor and distributor Sunny Chandiramani, who manages 25 screens in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. “It has been the most fantastic response. We are overwhelmed. All shows are housefull and we have witnessed the highest ever occupancy today,” Chandiramani told PTI.

On September 16, National Cinema Day was scheduled to take place. However, it was postponed until September 23 at the urging of numerous stakeholders and to increase participation.

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