COVID-19: Epidemic to hit Delhi box office hard

New Delhi, March 12 Irrfan Khan won't be arriving at the big screens in Delhi with "Angrezi Medium", neither will Akshay Kumar's latest biggie "Sooryavanshi". "Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar" featuring Parineeti Chopra and Arjun Kapoor will be affected, too. The impact of restrictions to stem the spread of the coronavirus in the Capital will be felt at the box office as Delhi cinemas will be shut till March 31.

With the Delhi government officially announcing all cinema halls, schools, colleges in Delhi will be shut until March 31 due to the outbreak of coronavirus, the film trade in the city is bound to feel the impact. After the postponement of "Sooryavanshi", massive shuffle of release dates is expected.

"It is going to put a full stop to the forthcoming releases. Delhi is a huge market. If you look at the business of two releases 'Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan' and 'Thappad', they were fantastic in Delhi and NCR. Even otherwise, Delhi-NCR is a huge market," trade analyst Taran Adarsh told .

"The losses will be worth crores. Why would you even want to release when you know that the film will not be released in Delhi? Delhi is a big territory. Producers will now pay attention and think about changing release dates," he added.

The new announcement will ruin box office takings of Irrfan's "Angrezi Medium"

( With inputs from IANS )