Even if the business, which has been battered because of the pandemic, is given a financial boost today, the culture itself will take time to get re-established
In March 2020 Anup Touring Talkies was screening the Marathi film Bharla Malvat Raktane in Maharashtra’s Satara district when they heard the news of a country-wide lockdown. It was the middle of the ‘jatra’ season, which runs from around September until May, when talkies snake through rural Maharashtra, setting up giant outdoor movie screens inside tents.
Priced on average at Rs 30 per ticket, with dozens packed on floor mats or plastic chairs, these enterprises have been a long-romanticised, but steadily declining feature of Maharashtra’s cultural landscape.
Priced on average at Rs 30 per ticket, with dozens packed on floor mats or plastic chairs, these enterprises have been a long-romanticised, but steadily declining feature of Maharashtra’s cultural landscape.