Ever since India went into a lockdown from March 25 this year, movie theaters and multiplex screens have remain shut throughout the country and a recent guideline from the Union Home Ministry is changing that situation.

In a statement for phase Unlock 5, the government said that the activities permitted from October 15, 2020 in areas outside the containment zones include 'cinemas, theatres, and multiplexes that can open with up to 50% seating capacity, for which the SOP will be issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting'.

The guideline is however state-specific and the centre has left it upto the state governments to decide whether or not they would want to re-open cinema halls in their respective areas. The decision comes after the country's leading multiplex operators in a statement via the Multiplex Association of India (MAI) claimed that they were loosing Rs 1,500 Cr. a month due to the closure of cinema halls.