Theaters will continue to operate: Minister Talasani

Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Telangana state minister for Cinematography, today clarified that there is no proposal to shut down the movie theaters in the state in the wake of the rising number of COVID-19 cases. The theaters will continue to operate, he stressed.

“The Telugu film industry has just recovered from the prolonged COVID-19 related shutdown. If we close the theaters again or stall the movie shootings, thousands of workers will lose their livelihood. We are not going to shut down the movie theaters. There is no proposal for restrictions on occupancy either at the present. However, theaters will have to follow the standard protocols of COVID-19 rigorously,” he mentioned.

Rumors have been doing the rounds that the government will impose a 50 % seating restriction in the theaters. The government had closed all the educational institutions in the state after a surge of COVID-19 cases was noticed in the last couple of days.

Films like ‘Rang De’, ‘Aranya’ and ‘Thellavarithe Guruvaram’ are hitting the screens this weekend and the producers of these movies are anxious to know the government’s decision.