Mumbai, Oct 23 (TIWN) Bollywood breathed a sigh of relief on Friday when cinema theatres across Maharashtra, the source of 50 per cent of the Hindi film industry's earnings, opened after a Covid-imposed shutdown that stretched across a year and six months.

Talking about the first-day response across theatres in Maharashtra, Rajeev Patni, CEO, INOX Leisure, said: "We are delighted to share that we were almost sold out for these shows across all our multiplexes in Maharashtra. The overall turnout during the day so far has been reminiscent to the pre-COVID days and we are certain that the sentiment would remain like this."   

A similar sentiment was echoed by Devang Sampat, CEO, Cinepolis India. He said: "The audiences are coming back with great enthusiasm. We are seeing excellent footfalls in all our cinemas in Mumbai and in the rest of Maharashtra. This excitement will only build further as we move into the festive week of Diwali."   

Of course, all eyes are on the big Diwali release, the action drama "Sooryavanshi", starring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, with Jackie Shroff and Gulshan Grover in supporting roles, and cameos by Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh. Will it be the blockbuster that will herald the return of the cinema exhibition business to its glory days?   OTT platforms, which expanded their numbers and footprints at a time when the pandemic raged and the cinemas were shut, however, may not be affected by the return of the movie theatre experience. Trade analysts believe that both view channels shall co-exist.