![]() |
A view of the closed Vishnu theatre on Main Road. Picture by Hardeep Singh |
Ranchi, April 3: After Uphaar cinema closed down last month, it is now the turn of another theatre, Vishnu, to down the curtains.
To add to it, Sandhya and Plaza cinemas have also ?made up their minds? to close down soon, said industry sources. If these closures occur, Ranchi citizens will have only three cinemas ? Sujata, Meenakshi and Sainik Theatre.
The cinemas are closing down despite the state government announcing a ?cinema encouragement policy? two months ago. In order to give a boost to the slacking cinema business, the government had announced tax holidays if the halls are renovated or upgraded.
Built in the 50s and considered to be among the oldest cinemas in the capital, Vishnu had to down the curtains as it was suffering ?huge losses? over the past few years and it was ?becoming unviable? to run the business. The cinema, located near Sarjana Chowk, had closed operations last month.
Manager of the cinema, Nagendra Kumar Singh, said: ?We closed down as the tax system was not favourable and this was causing huge losses. Moreover, the number of cine-goers has also decreased drastically because of several factors, including the rise of cable TV and also poor law and order situation.?
According to the taxation system of the cinemas, hall operators have to pay 24 per cent as levy and the tax is charged per show, instead of on the number of tickets sold per show.
?The tax is very high. Ideally, it should be from 10 to 15 per cent, as it is in other states. We had to pay Rs 10,089 per show, irrespective of the number of tickets sold,? added Singh.
As the manger rightly pointed out, most people nowadays prefer to watch movies on CDs, DVDs or sometimes on Internet. People prefer watching movies in their drawing rooms and this is destroying the cinema business, said cinema owners.
?The quality of cinema has also gone down. Hardly does a film get released that manages to draw huge crowds,? said Singh.
?People do not like to go to the cinemas unless the experience is overwhelming and given the current bleak scenario of cinemas in the city, we cannot provide such comforts.?