Oman: Cinema halls bring in cheer even with social distancing seats
Capacity limit set at 50% but fans are happy to return to halls
Muscat: Happy days of watching movies in cinema halls are back again in Muscat, with the multiplex cinemas now open for viewing.
The 50 per cent capacity limit has brought in a two-seat distance after every two seats across all the cinema halls in Oman.
Susan Andrew, a Filipina working with a five-star hotel in Muscat, said that she was hoping that the new James Bond movie, ‘No time to die’, doesn’t get released on OTT. “My friends and me have been waiting for the release of this movie for over a year, which is also the last of the series for Daniel Craig as the James Bond. Though the movie was mediocre we were glad we could see it in big screen.”
The multiplexes in malls like Muscat City Centre, Grand Mall, Mall of Muscat, Azaiba Mall, Qurum City Centre and Avenues have become active again with cinegoers.
While it may not be entirely possible for a group of friends to sit together in a row, the fact that they could all be at least sitting in close proximity across several rows is heart-warming enough.
Rita Chouhan, a college student studying in College of Banking and Finance, says that the wait is now for the Diwali release of Akshay Kumar, ‘Suryavanshi’. “It would also be great fun to watch another forthcoming Hindi movie starring Rani Mukerji and Saif Ali Khan, Bunty aur Babli 2. It has been so long since we sat together in a cinema hall to watch a movie and it was fading away from our memory.”
The much-anticipated ‘Thalaivi’ movie starring Kangna Ranaut somehow didn’t open up in Oman for theatre viewing but only on OTT.
Manikandan Iyer, who hails from Chennai says his friends and he had even planned to wear vibrant yellow shirt and jeans for the movie day, in tribute to MGR. “We thought, ‘Thalaivi’ will be released in cinema theatres here, after all it was a long wait since April this year. But we ended up watching it on OTT at one of our friends’ places.”
The Tamil movie fans in Muscat are hoping that the Rajnikanth-Nayanatara starrer ‘Annatthe,’ slated for a Diwali release this year, will be released in Oman as well.