After being shut for over eight months due to the pandemic, film theatres finally reopened in October, after a go-ahead from the government. Last month, Maharashtra, too, gave the green light to movie theatres. But there’s yet to be a thunderous response from the film industry vis-a-vis coming out with biggies.

While films such as Sooryavanshi and '83 have moved to 2021, Diwali saw Suraj Pe Mangal Bhari hitting theatres. Now, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is in theatres and Kiara Advani’s Indoo Ki Jawani is set to do the same. Wonder Woman 1984 will release in Indian theatres this month. Though the film exhibition sector is happy with the “positive signs”, but they admit that a tent-pole Hindi film is much needed. “Every film is important because the idea is to offer variety to our audiences. Having said that, in order to re-start movie consumption culture in a big way, we need a major Hindi film at the earliest,” says exhibitor-distribitor Akshaye Rathi.

While rumours are that Bunty Aur Babli 2 may release in theatres on Christmas, and Coolie No 1 could hit an OTT platform and single screens simultaneously, there’s no clarity yet. “It’s great that theatres are slowly getting back to some sort of normalcy... I think anyone, in our country where stars are loved so much, would be more interested in watching a big movie with top names,” says filmmaker Anees Bazmee.

The response to Tenet has cheered up exhibitors and distributors. “There’s no doubt that we need big, spectacle Hindi films to draw audiences in big numbers. And it’s great to see a fantastic response in terms of advance booking and otherwise for Tenet... It’s a positive sign that people are ready to come in, provided there is quality on offer,” says trade analyst Taran Adarsh. For Rathi, it’s all about getting people used to the magic of the big screen. “We need to do inculcate the habit of watching movies on the big screen before biggies start to come in, January onwards,” he says.