Days after Thalapathy Vijay sat with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Palanisami requesting him to allow 100% occupancy in theaters, the State Government today released a G.O. allowing the same with immediate effect. This move will obviously benefit Vijay’s Master releasing on the 13th of this month.
Tamil Nadu becomes the first state in the country to allow 100% occupancy. This seems to be a politically motivated decision taken to please Vijay’s fans or with the assurance of his support in the 2021 elections. Sitting in a closed theater with no ventilation for around 3 hours will be the perfect breeding ground for COVID-19.
This is a dangerous and selfish decision and an outbreak may totally jeopardize the future of theaters and cinema. If the corona cases increase drastically after this, we may see the closure of theaters yet again. Moreover, a significant chunk of the audience will stay away from the theaters fearing the outbreak.
Keeping aside all that, this permission will create a rampage of Master at the box office at least in terms of openings with the help of fans and the masses. Hoping that greed will not be costly. With Tamil Nadu allowing the same, it is most likely that the filmmakers and exhibitors in Telugu cinema are likely to exert pressure on the Governments here. Let us see if the Governments here will yield to the pressure of the Star Actors and decide to allow the 100% occupancy.
