Assam rolls out incentives for cinema halls

Guwahati, Sep 6: The spurt in shopping malls in Assam's capital city Guwahati has not just brought in the big MNC retail clothes and food outlets, but also big players in the cinema hall industry, with the state government also chipping in.

Cinemax had made the debut as the first nation-wide chain of multiplex in the city earlier in the year, with Fun Cinema also wooing audience through its mini cinema hall in another shopping mall.

Cultural Affairs Minister Gautam Bora said, ''Cinema halls are reviving after their slump. We are providing them with all possible back-up.'' With competition from outside big players, local cinema hall owners are also polishing up their facilities to compete and attract audiences.

The Anuradha cinema hall, among the better ones here till the arrival of Cinemax, has now installed air conditioning facilities and better seating arrangements, with its Dolby digital sound system in place even earlier. Another leading cinema hall, Apsara, is also planning to provide equal facilities to its audience and has already submitted a proposal to the government for tax waiver for halls with better facilities, Mr Bora informed. He said, ''We are encouraging cinema hall owners to provide better facilities and have special incentives and waivers for the halls that meet our list of facilities. From tax relief of up to five years to even allotment of government land for those who want to open mini halls in smaller towns, the government has many such incentives already in place and mooting several others.

Show tax has been abolished and service tax increased, among other incentives, for helping the cinema hall owners, the minister added. He said the government was also mooting the idea of declaring film as an industry, which would bring more benefits to the entire film industry of the state.

The thrust on reviving cinema halls along with the fledgling film industry in the state got a shot in the arm with the arrival of the big banners. From a time when the biggest city in the entire north east Guwahati waited for arrival of new films on the big screen weeks after the release, films are now getting released here on the same date as across the country.

Cinemax had been the leader in this regard, with the chain releasing all the major Hindi as well as English and dubbed movies in Guwahati also. It has a two screen 450-seater multiplex at a shopping mall currently and has been a major crowd puller for the city starved of a good cinema viewing facility. It also plans another multiplex in the city, besides in other Upper Assam districts and Meghalaya capital Shillong.

With Fun Cinema opening shop in another shopping mall, competition has arrived for Cinemax.

The Cultural Affairs minister also informed that another proposal for a mini cinema hall had already been received.

Old cinema hall owners in the city are also planning to convert into shopping malls and multiplex as the response to the handful of shopping malls in the city had been tremendous.

UNI