WAVES 2025 | Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan Bat For More Cinema Halls, Cheaper Tickets: 'It's Becoming Expensive'
'The call of the day is a lot more theatres, simpler theatres and cheaper theatres,' said Shah Rukh Khan at the ongoing WAVES summit.
Superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan have a solution to increase the footfalls in cinema halls: Build more theatres so that movies reach the audience far and wide. During the ongoing global entertainment summit WAVES 2025, Shah Rukh and Aamir raised the issue of needing to roll out affordable cinema tickets so that it encourages more people to watch films on the big screen.
"The call of the day is a lot more theatres, simpler theatres and cheaper theatres in smaller towns and cities so that we can showcase Indian films, in whichever language, to a larger majority of Indians at cheaper rates. Otherwise, it is becoming very expensive," Shah Rukh said while being in conversation with filmmaker Karan Johar and actor Deepika Padukone.
The actor, who delivered two consecutive blockbusters in 2023 with Pathaan and Jawan, said cinema halls in India are mostly concentrated in big towns, which makes it harder for movies to be accessible pan-India.
"We keep talking about the China model with regard to the number of theatres; that can happen here as well. Once we have more cinemas, it’ll increase footfall. Thus, we’ll be able to provide entertainment at a cheaper price and in every corner of the country," he added.
Aamir, who was part of another panel discussion, said India has roughly 10,000 screens, which is too few for the size of the country.
"In the US, which is one-third of our population, they have 40,000 screens and China has 90,000 screens! In the 10,000 that we have, half are in the South and the other in the rest of the country. So for a Hindi film, there are only 5000 screens available," Aamir explained.
The actor said that the biggest hits over the years have had a footfall of merely three and a half crore people, which is just two percent of our population.
"So, where is the remaining 98 percent watching our films? We need to have a lot more theatres in India. There are so many districts that don't have a single theatre to watch films! This is one of our biggest issues, which we have been facing over the decades. India's huge potential can be realised if we have that many screens," Aamir added.