SVF

Confident about Bengali content and movie buffs in Bengal, SVF Cinemas to add 15 screens in 2021

With only one screen per million people and the single-screen universe reduced to a graveyard after the Covid lockdown, Rudra Prasad Daw, Business Head, SVF Cinemas, believes there is a big market to tap, especially since audiences have been lapping up any Bengali films released since shows resumed

One of the first film industries to immediately release movies after theatres were allowed to reopen was the one in Bengal, which ran ventures such as SOS Kolkata and Dracula Sir.

These films saw good collections at the box office. Had it not been for the decent screen count in the state, the Bengali film industry’s gamble of releasing films immediately post-lockdown may not have paid off.

This is why SVF Cinemas, one of the largest cinema chains in Eastern India, is focussing on adding more screens in West Bengal despite Covid-19 slowing its expansion plans. SVF Cinemas is part of SVF Entertainment, which also has a streaming platform called Hoichoi.

“We were supposed to open nine new screens between July and Durga puja (October) last year. But we had to shut down on March 16 so we had to stop work. We were only a couple of months away from opening those properties. While we renewed the work by August end, getting vendors and labour from other States is causing a bit of a delay. So, in 2020 we could not open any screens,” said Rudra Prasad Daw, Business Head, SVF Cinemas.

Due to Covid’s impact and the dearth of content, it is expected that as many as 1,000 to 1,200 screens will shut permanently, most of them single-screen theatres.