In this Industry Spotlight with Kamal Gianchandani, CEO of PVR Pictures and Chief of Strategy, PVR Ltd, and Lohita Sujith, Sr. Director, Copyright & Digital Economy, Motion Picture Association, discussed the current landscape and future of the cinema industry in India.

The conversation started with a reflection on the tough days of COVID for cinemas, and subsequently highlighting the successful turnaround PVR has experienced since 2022. Kamal explained that pre-COVID a 300 crore box office net collection was the goal, but in 2023, there were four films that hit 500 crores, indicating a healthy growth surpassing pre-covid numbers.

Speaking of content quality, Kamal pointed out that in addition to big budget films, content and story driven films such as Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway, 12th Fail and many others have also been seeing success at the box office. In fact, the last 3 years have also seen South Indian films gain major popularity across the country.

The first year of the PVR-INOX merger followed the discussion. Kamal spoke about how in the first year they focused on integrating technology, building a seamless platform, optimizing ticket prices, and bringing in cost efficiency. In 2024, the focus will now shift to exceeding expectations of the various stakeholders for the business. While this will include adding more screens across the country and better consumer experience, a key focus area will also be profitability for the business.

On the subject of policy, Kamal acknowledged that a lot of positive development has happened in the last ten years, but that there is still a lot that can be done to grow and strengthen the industry.

To wrap up the conversation, Kamal discussed the alternate content strategy as well as the significance of premiumization to Indian theatregoers. He stated the goal of eventually having 4-5% of the revenue comes from alternate content strategy such as streaming events and competitions.