Bollywood strike continues into 4th week

No movies this summer for Bollywood

Bollywood producers and multiplex owner couldn’t come up to an agreement in their meetings and the Bollywood strike will continue into its fourth week.

This means that there might not be any major release until middle of June, as even an agreement is sealed next week, a big-budget movie takes 6-8 weeks to reach film theaters.

There’s some 1,100 single screen halls theaters and 750 multiplex screens across India and they’ve been showing old films to sustain their profit-margin during the strike.

Some of the issues between multiplexes and Bollywood producers are

1. Multiplexes currently keep 60 per cent of all profit and pass on 40 per cent to Bollywood. This is after deduction of entertainment tax.
2. Multiplexes are deducting entertainment tax though it is not applicable in all states. Similarly some multiplexes charge between 2 per cent and 8 per cent service tax but this is given neither to the government nor shared with Bollywood.
3. Money is not rolling in Bollywood. Because income has stopped, fresh films are not being made or planned. Losses this month are estimated to be Rs 150 crore so far.
4. Irregular reporting of ticket sales by multiplexes