Yoodlee Films support cinema owners with a grand gesture

In a gesture of solidarity with exhibitors, Yoodlee Films, the film division of Saregama India Limited, booked an entire theatre to watch  South Korean Zombie thriller, ‘Peninsula’ that has released in theatres. Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, the film was shown in the panorama section of 25th Busan International Film Festival and is a frequent festival favourite. Yoodlee Films decided, this was the perfect movie to catch on the big screen with a whole team of in-house cinema enthusiasts.

This year has brought forth unprecedented hardships for the film-industry and the exhibitors have suffered major economic losses. As part of the unlock process, cinemas in a few areas have opened and exhibitors are finally noticing a little light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. The question remains though, what will it take for audiences to return to theatres in the new normal when safety, and not just entertainment will be a major preoccupation.

Siddharth Anand Kumar, VP, TV & Films, Saregama and Yoodlee Films feels that for audiences to feel safer while going to the movies, theatres may have to compromise on occupancy percentages a little longer and uphold sanitation and hygiene standards stringently. But hopefully, the scenario will improve further sooner than later.

He adds, “The pandemic has taught the industry resilience and courage and we need to show up collectively and individually for one another. We need to bring back a sense of normalcy- as much as we can-  within the changed circumstances, and going back to the theatres, is one way of doing that.  We shot three new films, 'Comedy Couple' (which got released earlier last month), the upcoming Marathi zombie horror-comedy – ‘Zombivli’ and another untitled thriller, starring Jimmy Sheirgill, through the pandemic, in the presence of a COVID-19 officer on sets to monitor sanitization processes.  And now, watching a film in a theatre feels like we are ending the year on a promising note of hope. It doesn't mean that the virus is gone. It just means, we are  better prepared. We have come a long way from the early days of the lockdown to a point where we are now negotiating with the new normal and going on with work and life with cautious preparedness. The theatre exhibition industry has gone through much expected losses, and as soon as theatres opened, we at Yoodlee thought, that as part of the fraternity, we would want to visit the theatres to watch this acclaimed Korean film.  I just hope, our way of showing solidarity with cinema owners encourages more people to come forward and watch films on the big screen, with all safety precautions in place, of course. "