Varun Dhawan shares video of busy Bandra street: ‘Everything open but theatres remain shut’

Actor Varun Dhawan has expressed his opinion on the film theatres ordered to remain shut in Maharashtra even as multiple other states ease the curbs. On Thursday, he took to Instagram to share a video, showing a busy street in Mumbai’s Bandra neighbourhood.

The video showed cars, auto rickshaws and other vehicles in a traffic jam. A large crowd could also be seen shopping at the markets. Sharing the video, Varun wrote, “Everything open but theatres remain shut?” He also added a sad face emoji.

Earlier this month, the Maharashtra government allowed shopping malls to open and operate as per the new guidelines. Outlets such as yoga centres, spa, saloon and gyms were also allowed to operate with 50% capacity and without the use of air conditioning, the order said. Though the malls are open, no multiplexes, theatres and cinema halls are allowed to operate.

Multiplex chain PVR Cinemas had also reopened theatres in other states from July 30, claiming that all of its staff was fully vaccinated against Covid-19. As the country witnessed a steady decline in the number of Covid-19 cases, states such as Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have permitted the resumption of operations in cinema halls. In Delhi, theatres were allowed to reopen at 50% occupancy.

Akshay Kumar’s BellBottom became the first mainstream Hindi movie to release in theatres after the second wave of April-May, on August 19. Amitabh Bachchan’s Chehre is also in the beeline for an August 27 release.

Also read: BellBottom movie review: Akshay Kumar brings an edge-of-the-seat thriller, Lara Dutta and Vaani Kapoor impress

Varun was last seen in Coolie No.1 with Sara Ali Khan. Earlier expected to release in theatres, it arrived on Amazon Prime Video in December 2020. Varun’s upcoming releases include Bhediya and Jug Jug Jeeyo. Bhediya is the third movie in Dinesh Vijan’s horror-comedy series, following Stree and Roohi. Jug Jug Jeeyo also stars Anil Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor and Kiara Advani.