KATHMANDU, MAY 6
The six day long general strike called by the UCPN (Maoist) that ended on Friday hit hard the cinema industry as movies could not be screened in theatres across the country during the period. Those involved in movie industry said it incurred a loss Rs 27 million during the period. There are about 250 operating cinema halls across the country out of which 35 are in the Kathmandu Valley.
Nakim Udin, one of the promoters of Quest Entertainment Private Limited that has two films halls in Kathmandu and is also involved in cinema distribution, said the daily turnover of theatres in the capital stands at around Rs 2 to Rs 2.5 million. The turnover outside the valley is around Rs. 2 million a day, according to Manoj Rathi, who distributes Nepali cinema in 200 theatres outside the Kathmandu Valley. It means the daily the theatres across the country failed to collect around Rs. 4-4.5 million in a day and the cumulative loss reached around Rs. 27 million in six days.
Following the strike, the ongoing screening of around half a dozen Nepali movies including Hifajat, Dosti, Daag, and Buba Aama were halted. Similarly, Bollywood releases such as Apartment, Prince and Phook - 2 and Hollywood release Avatar in 3D version were also hammered. The shooting and post production works of many movies were also postponed.
Uddin said his company failed to incur a loss of Rs. 200,000 daily during the general strike. Quest Entertaiment's Jai Nepal and Kumari are two of the popular theatres in the Capital. "We failed to screen the much awaited Bollywood release 'Houseful' due to strike," said Uddin. The production works of movie director Sovith Basnet's new movie 'Kanyadan' were also seriously affected due to banda. His movie was in mixing phase. "We could have completed mixing during six days but we are starting the work from Sunday," Basnet said.
Chabi Raaj Ojha, producer of Nepali movie Hifajat had to halt the ongoing screening of the movie. "Our production house incurred a loss of Rs. 1.6 million within first four days of banda," he said. The movie was being screened in 34 places across the country in the fourth week of release.
Distributor Rathi also maintained that the latest releases such as Hifajat and Dosti were severely hit by the banda.
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