Swine flu gives Bollywood a hard time

With India reporting its 20 fatality, the crisis is beginning to have repercussions for the film industry now.

Three holidays in-line (August 14, 15, 16) was being looked forward to by multiplex owners and producers with two big-ticket releases - Kaminey and Life Partner – planned for Friday release. But the state government-ordered closure of multiplexes for three days - a move to curb the swine flu menace - spells disaster for the season’s most-awaited movies.

Movie theatres in Pune, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane received an advisory to shut down shutters of their malls and multiplexes Thursday onwards.

Sandeep Bhargava of Indian Films said, "We are releasing the film on this Friday the 14th of August with an exception of Mumbai and Thane. It was very late to withdraw and push the release, as all our prints have already been dispatched across India and the overseas territory as well."

The reason behind government’s directive
The idea behind the government's decision is to make people avoid social gatherings and crowded places. Through this decision, the government hopes to clip the wings of the influenza that is spreading across the state of Maharashtra.

Both the cities of Mumbai and Pune are considered biggest markets for films produced in Bollywood. Mumbai is the most lucrative territory, vis-à-vis entertainment business, in the country. About 70 percent of a film’s gross earnings come from collections in the opening weekend, and Mumbai accounts for almost 40 percent of that.

Multiplex owners’ take
Alok Tandon, CEO, Inox Leisure said, “At such a time, public safety is more important.”

Rumy Jaffrey, director of Life Partner, pushed his own agenda saying, “This is just a financial loss. The important thing is to safeguard everyone’s health. However, I would like to say that since the government has taken such a decision, it should also look into the piracy problem. I hope they try and stop pirated CDs and DVDs coming in to Mumbai.”

Situation in Mumbai
Until now, 20 deaths have been reported in the country so far, out of which 13 have been reported from the state of Maharashtra itself.

The state government has alerted Mumbaikars to stay away from crowded places. Also, a directive has been issued ordering shutting down of schools, colleges and educational institutions, along with malls and multiplexes, for a week.

Death toll crosses teens in country
The H1N1 pandemic has sniffed yet another life; that of a 26-year-old Bangalore woman, who succumbed to the lethal virus Thursday. Bangalore's first victim takes the country-wide toll to 20.

The woman, identified as Roopa, a teacher in a private school, was tested positive for the influenza and was undergoing treatment at Bangalore's St. Philomena hospital, health authorities said.

A mother of two children aged between six and four, Roopa was hospitalised on Aug. 7 with pneumonia, and later tested positive for H1N1 virus. She was also suffering from high blood sugar, authorities informed.