Rana Daggubati says India’s low screen count is triggered by rising real estate cost

Actor Rana Daggubati, who is known for ‘Arrambam’, ‘Baahubali: The Beginning’, ‘Baby’, ‘Housefull 4’ and others, has shared his insights on the Indian entertainment industry’s eternal problem of a diminishing screen count.Rana spoke with IANS ahead of the release of ‘All We Imagine as Light’ which won the Grand Prix at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.

Rana, who is presenting the film to the audience across the country, told IANS, “India is definitely very very underscreened. In terms of the number of screens it has, 14, 000 is a very large number. India has only about 6000-8000 working screens, the rest are all diminishing in many ways. Out of which, a large part of it is in Andhra and Telangana, the areas that I live in.

He further mentioned, “But no, we just feel like it can be much more. Screens for different kinds of people, and the number of people that are around”.

He then pointed toward the axel that drives the problem of screen count: India’s real estate market.

The actor told IANS, “It would solve that problem but India’s real estate is not as cheap as the rest of the world. We have less land, and many people unlike the USA or China which have much more land mass than us. We can build many more things. So that would change. But it’s like a chicken and egg. Look at the cinemas now. Every festival we are over full”.

“And we feel like there is no space for new films. But the rest of the year as exhibitors. We just sit idle because there is no film. It’s that trick that we are falling in, I just feel like. Unless exhibitors also know that there is more cinema that they can play, different types of audience that they can reach out to, different types of marketing techniques, that they can start exploring”, he added.

‘All We Imagine as Light’ is set to arrive in cinemas in India on November 22.

Sensational Film: PM Modi Shares Interesting Tweet

It is known that the Godhra train burning incident in 2002 is regarded as a black mark in the political career of Narendra Modi. This incident claimed 59 lives and ever since, there is a political narrative linking Modi’s name to the heinous act. However, Modi and the BJP have claimed not-guilt in this matter.

Now, a new film in the name Sabarmati Report has come out and it is based on the true incidents pertaining to the fateful event. Incidentally, PM Modi himself has reacted on the film and here is what he said.

“Well said. It is good that this truth is coming out, and that too in a way common people can see it. A fake narrative can persist only for a limited period of time.

Eventually, the facts will always come out!” Modi tweeted in reply to an earlier post from Author Alok Bhatt. Earlier, Author Alok Bhatt tweeted “Why I feel the film #SabarmatiReport is a must watch. Let me share my views:

1. The effort is particularly commendable because it brings out the important truth of one of the most shameful events in our recent history.

2. The makers of the film handled this issue with a lot of sensitivity and dignity.

3. On a larger point, it is worth introspection for all of us as to how the brutal burning of passengers of the Sabarmati Express was turned into a political minefield by a vested interest group, who saw it as a means to tarnish the image of one leader. Their ecosystem peddled one lie after another other just to satisfy their own petty agenda.

4. Finally 59 innocent victims got to speak for themselves. Yes, as they say, truth alone triumphs. This movie is indeed a fitting tribute to those 59 innocent men, women and children we lost that February morning.”

This film is billed to be an agenda-busting film on the Godhra Train incident and it has now received high praise from PM Modi himself, which is a big deal in itself for everyone involved.