Sharjah24 – AFP: Cinemas began re-opening in movie-mad Mumbai on Friday, the home of Bollywood, with theatres in India's tinseltown pinning their hopes on blockbuster releases from next month to pull back in the crowds.

The pandemic torpedoed the industry worldwide but films have a special place in Indian culture, with stars enjoying almost divine status and people often queuing to watch the same movie multiple times.

Lockdowns and a devastating surge in coronavirus cases in April and May kept Indians away from the silver screen, putting dozens of small cinemas out of business and squeezing production firms hard.

Many Indians turned instead to streaming platforms such as Netflix, which saw a boom in subscribers and hosted the releases of some new Bollywood films.

On Friday, only a few cinemas took advantage of being allowed to open, showing older pictures as well as the new James Bond and US superhero caper "Venom", and punters were few and far between.

The industry is hoping that a string of new big-budget flicks -- some made months ago but unreleased -- will bring back the good times.

The massive backlog will begin screening from Diwali weekend -- the festival of lights in early November -- with "Sooryavanshi" starring Akshay Kumar, one of Bollywood's biggest stars.