The West Bengal government on 1st February announced that cinemas in the state would be allowed to function at full capacity. In other words, 100% seats could now be occupied instead of 50%, as was the norm after the reopening of cinemas in October 2020.
The Centre had on January 31 announced that cinemas could henceforth function at full capacity if the respective state governments thought it prudent to allow them to do so. The West Bengal government lost no time in saying that cinemas in the state could operate at full capacity. In fact, West Bengal was the first state to allow cent per cent occupancy in cinemas. After that, the governments of Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have also allowed cinemas in their respective states to work at full capacity.
Cinemas were permitted to reopen in October after the pandemic lockdown but they were asked to function at half their capacity. Alternate seats had to be kept vacant in view of the COVID protocols and social distancing norms. While the SOPs will still have to be followed by cinemas, they have now been permitted to allow cent per cent seats to be occupied.