Theatre Owners In Chennai May Axe Late Night Movies

CHENNAI, India, Dec 20 (Bernama) -- Theatre owners in Tamil Nadu, India's cinema powerhouse, are mulling to ban screening of late shows as movie-goers are skipping theatres at night in the bustling capital. If the new ruling is imposed, thousands of theatres are unlikely to screen movies after 10pm in the state, which prides its "Kollywood' movie industry as being as vibrant and glamorous as Bollywood. "Collections are dropping. We are considering this (ban) for many factors, including the safety and comfort of movie-goers," Abhirami Ramanathan president of Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners' Association told Bernama Tuesday. This could be an unprecedented move to curb losses by theatre owners in the southern state now governed by former actress J.Jayalalithaa. Annually, the Tamil film industry produces about 200 movies, the majority being multi-million-ringgit budget productions, making it the second largest producer after Bollywood. Recently, the association was mired in controversy after theatres refused to screen a controversial movie, "Dam 999", which evolves around an old water dam bordering Kerala. Tamil Nadu, which depends on water supply from the Mullaiperiyar Dam, is against the Kerala government's decision to build a new dam. -- BERNAMA