Karnataka Government comes to film industry's rescue

Its intervention government style all over Karnataka! With the number of cinema halls rapidly dwindling all over the state, the Karnataka government has decided to step in and change things around. It announced a mega scheme to encourage commissioning new theatres by entrepreneurs in the entertainment business. Industry insiders view this as a step to increase the number of screens exhibiting Kannada films, which are facing stiff competition from neighbouring states.

Traditional single screen cinema halls in Bengaluru are rapidly being replaced by commercial complexes and real estate ventures that fetch more revenue for the land owners. Landmark cinema halls have made for commercial complexes. Coincidentally, the mall owners have retained the name of the cinema halls that no longer exist!

Swasthik theatre made way for Swasthik Complex; Alankar was replaced by Alankar Pearl Plaza, while Sangam became Sangam Complex. The famous Central became a multi-storeyed shopping mall; Himalaya is now a big shopping complex; Majestic theatre is being reconstructed; work on converting Galaxy theatre into Galaxy Mall is mid-way…the list goes on.

Several theatres have been converted into convention halls. “I can recall at least more than two dozen landmark theatres – Kalpana, Kempe Gowda, Opera and Elgin – in Bengaluru that are not functional. Faced with poor revenues, exhibitors have demolished the theatres and started real estate ventures during the boom time. Now, they are in a comfortable situation,” says film historian A N Prahlad Rao.

Karnataka has the least number of screens when compared to other south Indian states. The number of full time screens, including touring talkies, is around 1200 as of now. When Kannada films were very popular in the 70s and 80s, the number of screens was more than 1500. The trend of converting cinema halls into real estate ventures is not restricted to Bengaluru alone. Theatres at all leading centres like Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum and Hassan have undergone a similar metamorphosis.

“This is an alarming trend. In neighbouring states, DTS theatres with a very low entry fee are flourishing at the district level. We want a similar setup in Karnataka as well. Therefore, the government has proposed a special plan, promoting cinema halls in a big way,” says Karnataka’s Information Department Special Director (Films) J N Shivakumar.

The State government had set up a research group that analysed the problem. One of the main reasons for theatres to be converted into real estate ventures was poor patronage, primarily due to screening of low quality Kannada films. The success rate of Kannada films in the last decade has been stagnant in the single digits. For the last three years, the success rate was around six per cent, though the number of films that released increased.

At the same time, there was a widespread boom in real estate in the early 90s. Exhibitors, in a bid to take advantage of the situation converted the cinema halls into commercial malls. This trend was mostly noticeable in Bengaluru, when some of the best known theatres were converted into shopping malls.

The third reason found by the research group was that most theatres that were set up either in the 70s or 80s were never upgraded, leading to poor patronage. The cinema halls were poorly maintained or there were no basic amenities.

The fourth factor was the onslaught of cable television followed by satellite TV channels, which brought most of the popular cinemas to the small screen in the 90s. “All these factors contributed to the gradual decline in patronage of theatres. Though quality of Kannada films is one of the major reasons, there were other factors that kept cinema audiences away from the theatres,” points out noted film critic L Prakash, who is on the research panel.

After studying the report, the state government, which provided several sops to the Kannada film industry in the last two years, has evolved a special scheme to increase the number of screens in Karnataka. The scheme is yet to be approved by the Karnataka State Cabinet. If all goes well, the scheme will be announced shortly.

Under the new scheme, existing exhibitors will be eligible for a subsidy amount from the government. The percentage of the subsidy amount is different for each market. If the cost of constructing a new theatre is around Rs 40 lakh in Mysore, the subsidy amount could be little over 25 per cent (around Rs 12 lakh).

This apart, such theatres will not attract any kind of entertainment tax or sales tax from the government for a period of five years. The tax holiday will be extended to at least 100 theatres set up under the scheme during the first year of the announcement. Government land will be allotted to exhibitors at districts at less than the market price, if land is not available.

In case of existing exhibitors or entrepreneurs already owning land for the theatre, they will be exempted from paying property tax for a specific period, which is yet to be decided. However, the government has laid down certain technical specifications, which include dimensions of the theatre, seating capacity, DTS facility and Dolby stereo, among others.

Theatre owners now also have the liberty of screening movies of any language for a fixed number of days in a given year, although prominence should be given to Kannada films. The scheme was discussed with the Kannada film industry, which has welcomed the government initiative. “This is a highly encouraging scheme. Many producers are interested in setting up theatres in many centres in Karnataka. If we provide good facilities to the patrons, they will naturally return to theatres,” finds leading film producer H C Sathyan.