Where Bollywood Comes Alive
Posts tagged leased property
Plexes: 1 film not worth risk
Feb 12th
FILM UNDER A CLOUD: CM Ashok Chavan feels plex owners are unduly afraid
THE TIMES OF INDIA (February 12, 2010)
Mumbai: The multiplex owners’ apprehensions, besides being a major embarrassment for chief minister Ashok Chavan and his government, put huge pressure on Shah Rukh Khan to make it up to the Thackerays as a film’s performance in Mumbai can make or mar its overall fortunes. A teleconference between the actor (in Berlin) and the producers came off in the evening, when Khan was formally told of the theatre owners’ decision.
Khan stuck to his decision not to “apologise’’ to anyone but the ‘tweets’ he sent out during the day were markedly conciliatory. “(I) feel awful that Balasaheb and Uddhav have misconstrued my words. The reactions of the Sena workers seem to make me believe that. Don’t want mayhem, anger and violence ‘cos of our beautiful film which talks about repairing a bruised and divided world. I hope my tweets clear this cloud of confusion. I hope peace prevails and the city is at rest. Nobody wants Mumbaikars or their property hurt and destroyed, least of all me. This also is the last time I clarify or say anything on this topic. This is not a justification, it’s just reiterating the facts,’’ he said. But he seemed to have resigned himself to the no-show. “Now what happens with the release, the film, is the film’s fate,’’ he tweeted.
Mumbai’s multiplex owners, too, seemed to have resigned themselves to living with the Sena. “I think the uncertainty over the release of one film and the risk we would have taken by releasing it, is not worth it. Several other films are showing in my multiplex and I don’t want to lose that revenue as well,’’ a multiplex owner in the central suburbs said. His was one of the cinemas targeted by the Sena on Tuesday.
Another multiplex owner from Navi Mumbai admitted the government’s assurances paled in comparison to the fear factor. “A plex screen costs between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 11 lakh and one stone can damage it irretrievably. Why should we take the risk?’’ he added.
There is another huge fact that plex owners had to bear in mind when they decided that life without MNIK probably made more sense in the current circumstances. Most multiplexes run on leased property and owners say they can’t bear the consequences of damage to that property for one film. “We have to live with the Sena and don’t have the confidence that cops can give us blanket security cover 365 days a year,’’ a western suburbs mall owner admitted. “We will wait till Friday morning to take a final call,’’ he added.
Chief minister Chavan and home minister Patil, however, felt the plex owners were chickening out without reason, regretting that cops, trained to tackle terrorism and the Naxal threat, had to be diverted to take care of problems that did not have “any solid issue’’. “I said the issue should be settled amicably but people misconstrued it as softness,’’ he said.
Congress circles, however, felt the government had been backstabbed by Patil’s leader, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. “The decision to meet Bal Thackeray immediately after Rahul Gandhi’s whirlwind tour of the city, which had the Sena squirming, gave Balasaheb that much-needed lifeline,’’ a senior Congress functionary said. The Sena did not take too much time to latch on to that lifeline. Leaders bragged on Friday that the decision to go after MNIK had, in one stroke, exposed the “soft’’ chief minister, brought the Congress down to earth after the Rahul Gandhi-provided high and “showed Raj Thackeray his place’’.
Cinemas cowed down by threat from Sena
Feb 12th
Multiplexes & Malls More Worried About Damage To Property Than Profits From Film
Bharati Dubey | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; February 12, 2010)
Mumbai: Despite assurances from the Maharashtra government and the police that adequate protection would be given to cinema halls screening ‘My Name Is Khan’, multiplex owners and theatres across the state have decided not to screen the Shah Rukh Khan starrer on the first day of its release on Friday.
Each of Mumbai’s 70 cinemas were expected to rake in about Rs 2 lakh a day. But exhibitors were not worried so much about losing that amount as they were worried about losing money due to damage to property. The latter, they think, would be costlier and more of an annoyance in the long run.
About 90% of multiplexes are situated on leased property and mall owners, too, are in no mood to bear losses for the sake of a film’s release. Exhibitor and distributor Ramesh Sippy said, “If a film like ‘My Name Is Khan’ does not release on the first day, the minimum loss for a day would be around Rs 3 crore (for all Mumbai multiplexes), but the potential damage to property is what is working on the exhibitors’ minds. At present, a multiplex like Inox is situated in such a location (Nariman Point) that if the front of the property is damaged the multiplex would be unable to pay the reimbursement. So most of the multiplexes have decided against releasing the film in the present scenario.’’
Multiplex owners are reportedly under pressure from mall owners who are in no mood to incur any losses due to damage. The owner of a mall in the western suburbs said, “We really don’t have faith in the police force. They will do nothing if the Sena comes and vandalises our property.’’
Multiplexes have had several meetings with the police, chief minister and home minister and remain under pressure from the government to release the film, but most of them said they have no faith in the police force. An industry source said that the multiplexes have been told that if they don’t release ‘…Khan’, they shouldn’t release any other film. Another industry source said, “The government even told multiplex owners that if there is any damage, the state would compensate them. But even that did not convince them to release the film.’’
Vishal Kapoor, chief operations officer, Fun Cinemas, said, “All of us decided not to screen the film tomorrow as the environment is not healthy. We will wait and watch for the scene to get better.’’
Sippy added, “There are so many multiplexes whose screens were torn. To replace a screen is not only expensive, but the owners lose business for two to three weeks because screens are not of standard size and are made to order.’’
Manoj Desai, managing director of G-7 multiplex, Bandra West), has already planned to replace ‘My Name Is Khan’ with the Anthony Hopkins film ‘The Wolfman’. He said, “I have incurred a loss of Rs 3 lakh. The screen of my Maratha Mandir was torn down on Wednesday evening. I just cannot afford to take more losses.’’
On Wednesday, most multiplex chains were also complaining that, while their halls were provided full security in Mumbai, their cinema halls outside the city did not have any police cover, which they have pointed out to the police and state.
Meanwhile Sippy also said, “Audiences would certainly not want to enter a cinema hall and watch a film surrounded by cops.’’
