Tamil Nadu
More COVID-19 curbs eased in Tamil Nadu, theatres and schools reopen
Chennai/UNI: As the daily COVID-19 case load continued to be on the decline, more relaxations came into force in Tamil Nadu from Monday, including functioning of cinema theatres with 100 per cent capacity ahead of the Diwali festival and re-opening of schools for Classes one to eight.
With two films lined up for release for Diwali festival, including Rajinikanth's 'Annaathe', the theatre owners hailed the state government's decision allowing them to operate theatres with full capacity.
His fans in a buoyant mood as after a gap of 26 years, Rajini's film will hit the screens on Diwali day this year.
'Annaathe' was produced by SUN pictures and distributed by actor-politician Udhayanidhi Stalin's film company Red Giant movies.
Film industry sources said the response to Rajini's film was very encouraging with several theatres announcing early morning special shows on the Diwali day.
Advance bookings for the first four days were full as Rajini's fans were eagerly awaiting to see their 'Thalaivar' in action on Diwali day after a gap of 26 years.
His last film released on Diwali day was 'Muthu' in the year 1995.
The film will be screened in nearly 800 of the total 1,100 screens in the State, with Vishal's 'Enemy' allotted the remaining 30 per cent screens.
Audiences are back to the theatres after a gap of nearly 20 months, as theatres were shut across the state in view of the COVID-19 lockdown.
Though the state government had earlier allowed functioning of theatres with 50 per cent capacity by following the Standard Operating Procedures, the response was not that much encouraging as several films were released on OTT platforms.
Apart from allowing theatres to function with 100 per cent capacity, schools for Classes one to eight functioned on shift/rotation basis from Monday as a part of more relaxations announced by Chief Minister M K Stalin after reviewing the prevailing situation with health experts, district collectors and senior government officials.
All buses (inter and intra-district), including air-conditioned, except those bound for Kerala, also started operating with 100 per cent seating capacity from Monday for the benefit of people to travel to their native places to celebrate the Diwali festival.
The state government will be operating more than 16,000 special buses to various destinations from across the State for the benefit of the public and special advance reservation booking counters were opened.
However, the ban on festivals and political events continued till further orders.
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