Theatres have been shut since the third week of March. It's not clear whether the cinema halls in the country will be allowed to reopen from October 1. With theatres shut down, lakhs of people who are dependent directly and indirectly on the cine industry have been pushed into financial jeopardy. Perhaps, thousands of them have slid into poverty.

Theatre operators are left without a support system during the crisis. Operators of theaters at the famous RTC 'X' Roads in Hyderabad are struggling to make ends meet these days. Sudarshan, Saptagiri and Devi theatre staff members are reeling under the unprecedented crisis.

"We have lived with films for decades. A colleague recently died due to the crisis and we are scared all the more seeing such things," an operator working for a theatre in the locality recently said.

"Distributors are not caring for us. We have served the industry for years. We thank our exhibition owner for giving us at least half the salary. He is like a god to us. The Film Chamber should be involved in the process of taking care of our welfare," another operator said.