Theaters have stopped screening Tamil films

After the Cauvery river water dispute reached a flashpoint, theaters in the city have stopped screening Tamil films. Not only Mysore but also neighbouring districts Mandya, the hotbed of Cauvery agitation  Chamarajanagar bordering Tamil Nadu, have voluntarily banned screening of Tamil movies.

Though several blockbuster movies have been released in Tamil from last two months, many of the movies are yet to be screened in theaters
of Mysore, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, which could have run to full houses here.

Not only Theater whereas even Multiplex in Mysore DRC and Satyam have decided not to screen any Tamil movies till the Cauvery issues final verdict being awaited from the Supreme Court for October 30.

The sudden switch over to screening movies of other languages has caused a lot of hardship to some theater owners who were exclusively screening movies of a particular regional language like Tamil, Telugu or Malayalam. Either way there business has taken a beating.

Mysore District Theater Association President Ajit Kumar said that screening of Tamil films were stopped right from the day the agitation broke out. Mandya Theater Owner Srikanth added that screening has been stopped in five districts Mysore, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Hassan and Coorg.

Padma and Rajkamal Theater which screen maximum numbers of Tamil movies have been severely affected. Rajkamal Theater owner Jeevan Kumar says, “our theater is popular for screening Tamil movies. But from last one month our business has totally come down.” Pashwanath of Padma theater says: “The collection has totally come down and only some amount of tickets are sold. To attract people we are screening Telugu movies.”

Mysore Theater Association Secretary Rajaram said that as per the governing rules the theater owners hold responsible and held for any mishap that occur inside the theaters many of the theater owners are not ready to take any chance and are meantime extending their support to farmers.” While some in support of the agitating farmers have stopped the screening of movie, it also true that some fearing untoward incidents stooped screening movies on their own, he added.

Though the verdict comes favourable to State, following Kannada Rajyothsava the theater owners can't screen other languages movie for another one week, which is followed every year during Rajyotsava.