Have confidence and belief that audiences will come back to cinemas, says PVR head Ajay Bijli

In conversation with ThePrint Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on Off The Cuff, Bijli talked of the hardships cinemas faced during the pandemic & why OTT platforms are not a threat.

A screengrab of Ajay Bijli from the event.

New Delhi: Ajay Bijli, the chairman and managing director of PVR Cinemas, has said even at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, he always had confidence and hope that the business would bounce back.

In conversation with ThePrint’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on Off The Cuff (OTC), Bijli explained the hardships cinemas across the country faced during the pandemic, when lockdowns on most public spaces put the theatres out of business for months. He also talked about why OTT platforms were not a threat but force multipliers, and why innovative methods needed to be adopted to drive more people to theatres.

“I still believe human nature is not designed in such a way to be incarcerated. During lockdown we had no option but to be entertained on the small screen,” said Bijli.

He added that he was never worried about movies being sold to OTT platforms, as at least money was being exchanged and producers were earning something.

There is a monetisation journey for content, explained Bijli, adding that a theatrical release will always be important as it sets the benchmark for movies, both quantitatively and qualitatively.

‘Audiences will come back’

Bijli looked back at his roots and explained how he came from a family in Amritsar that was engaged in the trucking business. However, he would sell movie tickets on the side, as he had always been mesmerised by the world of cinema. However, when he was 25, his father passed away, leaving him to take on both businesses.

It is from this love for the movies that Bijli was inclined to create “an experience” for movie-goers, and PVR Cinemas came into being.

Explaining the difference between Indian and foreign movie-goers, Bijli said for Indian audiences, watching a movie is a celebration and larger-than-life experience, which is why he was confident that movies lined up for this year such as the Akshay Kumar-starrer Sooryavanshi and the 1983 World Cup biopic 83, would get audiences into cinemas.

Bijli did confess, however, that on the business front, Covid hit cinemas hard, as out of a staff of 15,000 people, 50 per cent had to be laid off.

“We have been in touch with our workers, as we have this confidence and belief that audiences will come back,” he said.