How's The World's Largest Film Industry Coping With The Pandemic?

Mayukh Majumdar figures out how the business of cinema fared under the pandemic

- Mayukh Majumdar

While industry insiders remain cautiously optimistic about the immediate future of the Hindi film industry, the numbers tell a different tale altogether. In the first quarter of 2020, Bollywood’s box office report card stood at approximately Rs 1,150 crores. Compare that to the March quarter of 2021 which saw Bollywood’s box office earnings barely crossing Rs 50 crores. According to data compiled by consulting firm Ormax Media and reported by Business Standard Newspaper, a billion movie tickets were sold in 2019. The total amount from ticket sales was around Rs 10, 948 crs. Around a third were from Hindi movies, 19 per cent from Tamil industry and 18 per cent from Telugu. The contrast couldn’t have been starker in 2021. It was estimated that the movie business would crash by as much as 70 per cent this year. It’s freefall as far as the entertainment industry is concerned.