Bombay (AFP)
On Friday, only a few cinemas took advantage of the clearance to open, showing the new James Bond and American superhero film "Venom" as well as older films.
"I am an avid movie buff and have been waiting for this day for a long time. The last movie I saw was in 2019, before the pandemic started. I'm so glad to be back," said Smer Sagar, 18, just after seeing "No Time to Die".
As the pandemic has torpedoed industry around the world, cinemas in the Indian city are hoping next month's blockbusters will draw crowds.
Closures and the surge in coronavirus cases in April and May took Indians away from the big screen, shutting down dozens of small cinemas and putting production companies in a difficult position.
Many Indians have turned to streaming platforms such as Netflix, which has seen a subscriber boom and has hosted the releases of some new Bollywood movies.
The industry is hoping that a slew of new big-budget films - some of which shot several months ago but not yet released - will bring the good old days back to life.
Moviegoers line up to buy snacks during intermission at a Bombay cinema on October 22, 2021 SUJIT JAISWAL AFP
The huge amount of films in reserve will start showing from Diwali weekend - the festival of lights, in early November - with "Sooryavanshi", starring Akshay Kumar, one of Bollywood's biggest stars.
Bollywood, India's most prolific film industry in the world, was worth $ 2.5 billion in 2019. And foreign-language films are also regularly successful.
Biryani forbidden
The state of Maharashtra and its capital Bombay are among the last to reopen theaters, multiplexes and auditoriums, but for the industry, it is "very, very important," Komal Nahta, analyst for the AFP told AFP. movie industry.
"Maharashtra contributes about 20% of total cinema receipts in India and Mumbai is the nerve center of Bollywood," says Komal Nahta.
The occupancy rate of the rooms is limited to 50% and no refreshments can be served, far from the pre-pandemic era when spectators of large multiplexes were served biryani and ice cream in their seats.
Film buffs must wear masks at all times, but while staff must be fully vaccinated, there is no mandatory vaccination requirement for spectators.
"The effects of the pandemic will persist, but we are optimistic that 2021 will bring audiences back to movie theaters," said Ajay Bijli, chairman of India's largest movie theater chain, PVR.
Mr. Nahta predicted that the public "will come back with a vengeance and revenues will likely exceed anything imaginable."
© 2021 AFP