Film-maker Subhash Ghai, known as the ‘showman’ of Bollywood, is betting big on multi-screen theatres in the country. Over the next 12-months, Ghai, Chairman and Managing Director of BSE-listed Mukta Arts wants to almost triple the number of multiplex screens his company owns to 100.

Mukta Cinemas, a division of the Mumbai-based company, will acquire existing screens instead of setting up new ones, said Ghai. The veteran filmmaker, who has directed classics such as Karz , Ram Lakhan and Hero , was speaking on the sidelines of a recent media interaction.

“Our model is different; it is more of partnership with existing movie halls. Since we will be taking over operational screens there will be little additional expenditure for us to make,” Ghai told Business Line . Mukta Cinemas prefers to take over ailing single screen theatres and have them converted into ‘budget’ multi-screen halls. It currently has properties in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Banswara, Gulbarga, Vizag and Parbhani. With an eye on becoming a pan-India player, the company has cities such as Bhopal, Ranchi and Aurangabad on its radar. At present, the company operates 35 multiplex screens, said Ghai.

Mukta Cinemas, which was launched in 2011, joins the likes of PVR, INOX Leisure, Big Cinemas and Mexican chain Cinepolis for capturing a chunk of the burgeoning market for multiplexes in India. One of the first multiplexes to open in the country was PVR Anupam in New Delhi, with four screens in 1997. Thanks to the real estate boom and growth in discretionary spends, one-third of box office collections today come from multiplex screens.

The future growth potential is huge as there are just eight cinema screens per million people, far less than the 117 per million in the United States and 31 per million in China, as per a joint report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and KPMG. India is known to produce twice as many movies a year as Hollywood.

The 69-year-old Ghai is a busy man as several films are being simultaneously produced under the Mukta Arts banner. His next ambitious project would be a film on Sarabjit Singh, the Indian death row prisoner who died last year following a brutal assault by fellow inmates in Pakistan. However, the casting for this project has not been decided, he said. In addition, Ghai is set to re-launch the company’s music label, Mukta Music, after nine years.

Kaanchi , Ghai’s next directorial venture, releases on April 11.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW