How cinema industry in Delhi is losing the big picture to Noida, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Faridabad

As the cine industry in Delhi responds to the doubling of entertainment tax with representations and appeals, the digging out of data reveals interesting facts – the capital’s erstwhile poorer cousins are beating it hands down.
An unexpected fallout of the Delhi government’s budget this year was the dusting of files to dig out a bunch of statistics on the state of the cinema industry in the capital, once the aam aadmi regime sprung a surprise on the entertainment industry by doubling the tax on movie tickets from 20% to 40%.While the cine industry has been landing up in the NCR through the year to shoot and to promote movies, and of late the movie-friendly CM has been landing up at theatres across Delhi to applaud and review the cinema being screened here, a footnote of all the cine activity is perhaps unnoticed: the NCR cities are royally beating Delhi proper so far as the consumption of cinema is concerned, and the screening of cinema in Delhi is now a stagnant, if not receding, activity.
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Consider this: The erstwhile poorer cousins have a very substantially robust cinema infrastructure now, as compared to Delhi. On the index of the number of screens per million population, Delhi – which has seen people increasing and halls shutting down over the past decade – scores just 7.6. Every NCR city scores over it – Ghaziabad has 13.9 screens per million, Faridabad has 18.3, and Gurgaon (21.7) and Noida (25) have over three times the screen density that Delhi has. And this gap is only growing.
But does Delhi having only one-third the number of screens of a Gurgaon or Noida mean that Delhi halls are, therefore, overcrowded? Not in the least. Even with far fewer seats and screens, on an average, you will usually have the space to stretch out without someone jostling with you on either side’s arm-rest, or walk about and occupy another vacant seat if the person in front of you is the Great Khali and you can’t see a thing. Delhi’s halls offer excellent privacy to cozying up couples – they have 70% of seats unoccupied on an average, you see. So maybe the jodis can let the parks be for the joggers. It’s not as if the other NCR towns are choc-a-bloc either: If Delhi itself has an occupancy of 30-32%, Noida has broadly similar figures as of now (but with three times the ratio of screens), while Gurgaon is a shade better at 35-40%. However, the NCR cities are expanding, the capital is clearly not.
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Dilli, hall kaisa hai janab ka...
130 approximate number of screens in Delhi almost 30 of which are single screens
In the 1970s, Delhi had 67 single screens, while in 2015, it’s only around 30. Some 20 have shut down this year itself. With increasing population, you would expect screens to increase, but unfortunately in Delhi we are observing a reverse trend. In Chandni Chowk area itself, 10 cinema halls have shut down. We don’t have any film related policies. The industry can be revived by taking three urgent steps – single window clearance, creating new sites, and private land should be allowed to be converted to commercial land – Joginder Mahajan, National Association of Motion Pictures Distributors of Delhi
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...Kya khayal hai aapka
Unavailability of land, absence of tax holidays and now the 40% entertainment tax are a major dent for the growth of cinema industry. Even the malls are at a saturation point now. NCR developed really fast because the investors invested in cinema projects – Shashank Raizada, president, National Association of Motion Pictures Exhibitors
Practically speaking, how long will people go to watch a film at any other place? It’s not practically feasible that people will go to watch a film in Gurgaon and Noida to save `50 on a ticket. There was even a time when we had 60% entertainment tax in Delhi – A senior official from the Entertainment Tax department
This attitude is not going to help the cinemas in Delhi. Taxing the common man will not help in revenue generation. 40% entertainment tax will boost piracy by making films unaffordable. The government should have a policy to open more cinema halls rather than increasing taxes – Mukesh Bhatt, president, National Guild of Producers
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NCR developed fast, Delhi stayed where it was
Shashank Raizada, president, National Association of Motion Pictures Exhibitors, explains, “There are several issues due to which we have low screen density in the capital. Unavailability of land, absence of tax holidays and now, the 40% entertainment tax. Together, these are a major dent for the growth of the cinema industry. Mall owners open screens only to increase footfall, but even the malls have reached a saturation point now. NCR developed really fast because the investors invested in cinema projects, so they have more screens than Delhi where due to a lack of space, no new screens have come up.” On the occupancy point, he sounds resigned. “Shah Rukh, Salman aur Hrithik ki kitni filmein aa jaengi? Saal mein chaar-paanch? Iss se poori industry kaise chalegi? Festivals aur superstars ke baad bhi toh cinema chalana hai, saal ke 52 hafte hum kya karenge?”
Joginder Mahajan, member of the National Association of Motion Pictures Distributors of Delhi, gives a flashback to how the script has played out in the capital. “In the 1970s, Delhi had 67 single screens, while in 2015, there are only around 30. Some 20 have shut down this year itself. With the increasing population, you would expect screens to increase, but unfortunately in Delhi, we are observing a reverse trend. In Chandni Chowk area itself, 10 cinema halls have shut down. We don’t have any film-related policies. The industry can be revived by taking three urgent steps – single window clearance, creating new sites, and private land should be allowed to be converted into commercial land. The cost of land is so high and single screen cinema halls of Delhi which are looking for expansion have been unable to get permission to do so for years,” he says.
He explains the current revenue model, “For a `100 ticket, `40 will now go to entertainment tax, `30 will go to the theatre, and the remaining `30 will be shared between the producer and distributor, according to their understanding. Where is the profit in this business? People will now line up in the border areas of Delhi for movie tickets. Unlike Noida and Ghaziabad, Delhi has never had any tax exemption policies.”
People won’t spend `200 on petrol to save `50 on a ticket, will they?
The Entertainment Tax department, however, doesn’t think Delhiites are going to shift their movie watching preferences, irrespective of these statistics. A senior official, who prefers to not be quoted by name, opines, “It’s true that theatre owners are giving the argument that their whole business will go to NCR, but I don’t think it is going to affect more than 10-20% of the estimated profit. Practically speaking, how long will people go to watch a film at any other place? Petrol ke daam badhe toh log sochte hain, ‘Yaar, main do-chaar din gaadi nahin le jata.’ Par tax badha diya toh entertainment thode hi log band kar denge? It’s not practically feasible that people will go to watch a film in Gurgaon and Noida to save `50 on a ticket. Say, I have a theatre near my house where I pay `100, and now, I must pay `150. I would spend that. Why would I spend `200 on petrol and go to Noida or Gurgaon?” He also explains that the ticketing taxation policies have varied over the years as it is. “Excise and Entertainment are major revenue generators of Delhi government since we have limited sources of revenue. There was even a time when we had 60% entertainment tax in Delhi. It was rolled back to 30%, then 20% and now, it is 40%.”
Costlier movie tickets benefit piracy
Mukesh Bhatt, president, National Guild of Producers, has a clear take that halls in Delhi are heading for trouble. “This attitude is not going to help the cinemas in Delhi. Taxing the common man will not help in revenue generation. We are in the process of organising meetings with the Chief Minister and have a blueprint ready on how to increase the revenue without increasing the entertainment tax. Plus, 40% entertainment tax will boost piracy further by making films more unaffordable. Delhi government should have a policy to open more cinema halls in Delhi rather than increasing taxes.”
Maybe Bhatt sahab and the producers here need to catch the CM at his next outing at Director’s Cut, in more cinema-friendly surroundings, to persuade him to rewrite this script, if they can. He’s quite popular with filmmakers at the moment; everyone wants to invite him for their Delhi screening. And as for making it easier for the common man – while the legitimate ticketing and taxation battles are fought out, can we have less prohibitively expensive popcorn, please?