Kolkata: Priya cinema suspended all four shows on Thursday due to lack of business; Navina suspended all shows from Friday until March 17; Binodini Theatre (formerly Star) shut for two days before reopening on Friday. This has raised questions about why so many single screens in the city are suddenly suspending screenings.
According to Priya's owner Arijit Dutta, the business was so bad that it was not financially viable to keep his theatre open on Thursday, and it became difficult to sustain operations when footfall was low. "The operating cost was more than what we earned. The content is not good enough. Every contemporary Bengali maker wants to target festival weeks. Where do we get good content to draw the audience? This is my private business and I can't keep it open to incur losses. I will take a chance by keeping Friday open with two shows of Hindi films, hoping things work out. If things don't work out during the weekend, I will suspend screenings from Monday," Dutta said.
Other cinema owners or leaseholders also took suspension decisions. However, the official reasons given were renovation, though the curious timing of all single screens requiring renovations during this time of the year left many viewers wondering. Joydeep Mukherjee, who has the lease for Binodini Theatre (formerly Star), shut down the cinema for two days. "I did maintenance work during this period. I will open my theatre from Friday," Mukherjee said.
When asked about the footfall issues of contemporary Bengali cinema, he said, "It was not good over the past two weeks. But at Binodini Theatre, we will still try to promote Bengali movies," he said.
For Navina's owner Navin Chowkhani, the official reason for closure was renovation. "I decided to keep my hall shut from Feb 27 to March 17. During this period, we will do electrical, air-conditioning, civil and seat maintenance of the theatre," Chowkhani said.
While single screens are suspending shows, Bengal is also seeing indie directors wanting to screen films at other venues. Director Pradipta Bhattacharya bypassed conventional movie theatres for his film's screenings, opting instead for play auditoria and community centres. This is significant, given that his ‘Nodhorer Bhela' was the only Indian film selected to compete for the top KIFF award. "We make films our way, we take actors and technicians we think are needed for the film. We also screen it our way at venues we feel will have an audience that appreciates our content," Bhattacharya said. His film premiered in Tehatta rather than Kolkata, reflecting his view that the intended audience for this kind of cinema often lived in areas without nearby cinemas.
Following this model, the film had one screening in a community hall in Bankura, two at Tapan Theatre in Kolkata, and two each in Berhampore and Halidibari. Bhattacharya cited limited funds for conventional publicity, the extra costs of uploading films for multiplex and single-screen releases, and distribution costs as reasons for this approach. "We carried a projector, laptop, sound system and mixer to deliver better audio than what is available in many theatres across Bengal, using the venue's system when it was adequate," he said.