Theatres and auditoriums in Maharashtra will open after October 22, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's office announced on Saturday.
"Theatres and auditoriums in Maharashtra will open after October 22, 2021, while observing all Covid safety protocols. SOP is in the works and will be declared soon," read a tweet from the official account of the CM's office.
The SOPs for theatres and auditoriums will be announced soon.
Recently, the Multiplex Association of India appealed to the state government to reopen theatres. They said the industry had lost about Rs 4,800 crore since last March and needed theatres to reopen to save jobs.
The decision by the Government has enthused Bollywood since Maharashtra and Mumbai is one of the biggest markets for the film industry. Shortly after Thackeray announced that theatres will be reopened, filmmaker Rohit Shetty took to social media to announce that his upcoming film ‘ Sooryavanshi’ with Akshay Kumar in the lead, will release on Diwali this year. Marvel’s ‘ Eternals ’, which was already set for a Diwali release, will also get a boost.
Experts said other producers will also line up to announce theatrical releases.
Earlier, the CM's office announced that all places of worship will reopen for devotees from the first day of Navaratri, i.e. October 7, 2021, while observing all Covid safety protocols.
Meanwhile, physical classes in schools would resume across the State from October 4, the state government said on Friday.
Maharashtra, on Friday, reported 3,286 new cases, while the total number of recovered patients was 3,933 for the day, as per a tweet by State Health Minister Rajesh Tope. Overall, the total number of active patients in the State stood at 38,491, while the number of recovered patients stood at 63,57,012. The recovery rate in the State is 97.23 per cent. Meanwhile, as of September 25, 8am, with 51 new deaths reported, the death toll for the State stands at 1,3877,6, according to official data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.