'Tenet' becomes the most-watched film in India after lockdown
Christopher Nolan-directed Tenet has become the most-watched film in India post the coronavirus-induced lockdown as per the #ShowOffTheYear2020 report by the ticket company BookMyShow. Nearly seven lakh movie tickets have been sold by cinemas since their reopening in October. To recall, cinema halls across the country remained shuttered for almost seven months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are more details on this.
There has been a steady rise in the number of operational cinema screens in India. As per reports, 2,800 screens are currently operational across the country. Tenet, starring Robert Pattinson, John David Washington and Dimple Kapadia, has become the most-watched movie having sold three lakh tickets. Notably, the aforementioned data is based on ticket sales between October 16, 2020 and December 18, 2020.
Directed by popular Hollywood filmmaker Christopher Nolan, Tenet released in India on December 4, after having released in 70 other countries across the world earlier in August. The movie received mixed reviews. While some called it "mind-bending," others opined it was unimpressive and confusing. Meanwhile, veteran Indian actor Dimple Kapadia received glowing reviews for her performance in the film.
Following Tenet, Tamil movie Biskoth bagged the second position in the most-watched movies list after the lockdown. Other movies that made it to the list were Tamil film Irandam Kuththu, Bollywood movie Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari, as well as the Bengali movie Dracula Sir. The cities where most films were watched are Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi/NCR.
With theaters closed amid the lockdown, viewers across the country sought relief through virtual entertainment. Reports suggest that 2,33,219 consumers registered and bought tickets for virtual events like sports, music shows, workshops, stand-up comedy, online games and others, between April 1 and December 18. Mumbai ranked first in India's Most Entertained Virtually list, followed by Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, and other cities.
"We foresee the future of entertainment to remain strong as people love to socialize and get out. However, we think there is an opportunity for a hybrid model where both out-of-home and a live experience on-ground may co-exist (sic)," said Ashish Hemrajani from BookMyShow.
