Cinema house owners in Mumbai play safe, no shows on Sunday

With emotions running high following Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's death, cinema house owners in the city have decided to keep the theatres closed on Saturday night and and Sunday for security reasons.

Film screenings in city theatres were cancelled on Saturday as soon as the news of Sena chief's demise spread.

"For the time being, we have cancelled all the shows in Mumbai. We will decide about running the shows tomorrow after assessing the situation, an official of PVR cinemas said.

Manoj Desai, owner of Gaiety, Galaxy and Maratha Mandir said, "Yes, we have cancelled all the shows from 6pm today till tomorrow, as we fear that anything might happen tomorrow. We don't want to cause any trouble. From Monday, we might run it normally."

Girish Wankhede, deputy GM-Corporate Communications and Public Relations of Cinemax said, "The moment we heard the news, we cancelled all the shows for today and tomorrow across Maharashtra. We have around 56 screens in the state. We have given refund of the tickets."

Ashish Saxena, Chief Operating Officer- Big Cinema "For today we have suspended all the shows and also advance bookings. We will decide upon tomorrow depending upon the inputs provided by the local police."