The theatres in Tamil Nadu have been ordered to shut down from April 26, coming Monday, due to the spike in the Covid 19 cases in the state. The second wave of Corona virus has impacted the lives of many people and the entire country is going through a challenging phase. The Government, the Doctors, Medical Staffs, and the frontline workers are doing their best to safeguard the lives of people. However, the Covid positive cases have been rapidly increasing in the last few days. Recently, the Tamil Nadu Government had brought in night curfew and Sunday lockdown, to restrict the public movement. Having said that, a few more restrictions have now been imposed and the official statement has been released by the Government.

From April 26, 12:00 AM, cinema theatres, shopping malls, bars, pubs, temples, sports academies, museums, beaches, parks, beauty parlours, salons, will be shut down. These are some of the places where people gather in large numbers and the Government has decided to close it down to control the spread of the virus. Hotels and restaurants have been given permission to function, but the public will have to only take parcel services. This news has come as a big blow for the theatre owners across the state and let us hope that all of us come out of this pandemic soon.

The theatrical business in Tamil Nadu was revived by Thalapathy Vijay's Master which turned out to be a sensational hit at the box office. The film not just revived the Tamil Nadu box office, but also the Indian box office. The theatre owners were highly elated with the performance of the film and it gave the right kind of boost to the theatre owners. After Master, there was a void for a few weeks, which was then compensated by Karthi's Sulthan, followed by Dhanush's Karnan. Sulthan released in theatres on April 2 and it became a success at the box office. Being a mass masala entertainer, Sulthan was a perfect theatrical material and it had a good run with the support of the family audience.

Dhanush's Karnan was another film which set the box office on fire. Dhanush's highly impactful performance and Mari Selvaraj's strong content made Karnan a big hit. The 50% occupancy in the theatres did not affect the film's performance. Now that the theatres are going to be closed from April 26, we may even expect a lot of exciting films to opt for a direct OTT release. Stay tuned.