It has been evident that coronavirus outbreak has disturbed all kinds of economic sectors around the world. It has also influenced Nepal’s entertainment sector.

The number of visitors in places like movie theaters, stage shows, and festivals has been decreased among others. Fear of COVID-19 spreading has not just decreased the number of audience, but most of the shows have been canceled.   

Speaking about the impact of corona outbreak on artist’s life, prominent singer Prakash Saput said, “We should take precautions about this deadly virus. I have been canceling all kinds of stage performances for past two weeks because public heath comes first.”  Prakash has canceled 11 national shows and two international shows so far. “Some shows were canceled by organizers, while some of them were put off under my appeal because any kind of entertainment shows refers to a public gathering, which would risk the chances of communicable disease like coronavirus,” Prakash added. Prakash was all set to visit Bahrain and Israel on March 6 and 13 respectively. But the shows were canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Similarly, renowned singer Astha Raut suggests public to take care of their health and not to participate in unnecessary crowd. “Of course fear of COVID-19 spreading has adversely affected entertainment sector, but audience’s health comes first, after all we work for their entertainment purpose,” she said.  So far, Astha has canceled five stage performances in Nepal and two international shows.

Speaking about the oddity President of Film Director's Guild of Nepal, Rakshya Singh Rana informed, “Fear of COVID-19 spreading has created insufferable hindrances for filmmakers. Filmmakers are canceling and postponing shootings, some of them have postponed release date as well.”

Release date of films like ‘Neerphool’ and ‘Ma Yesto Geet Gauchu 2’ has been postponed. Production unit of ‘Ma Yesto Geet Gauchu’ issued a statement on March 6 affirming that the release date of the film has been postponed till the next notice. Director of the film Sudarshan Thapa affirms that reason behind the postpone is coronavirus threat. “We have postponed release date regarding our audience’s health. We find it unethical to release the movie, when the government is appealing not to participate in any kind of crowd.” Further informing about the film he stated, “The film unit is looking forward for releasing movie after this corona threat is over.”

Precautionary measures have been taken in movie theaters citing coronavirus threat. CEO of QFX, Roshan Adiga said they being careful and have been using disinfectant in the cinema halls. “Since last week, we have been disinfecting all possible surfaces that come in contact with visitors like railings, seats handles, floors and others,” Adiga said. When asked is there any change in number of visitors due to coronavirus threat, Adiga said, “we haven’t faced any changes. Our weekend shows were houseful. Of course, there has been slight decrease in number of visitors, but I don’t think we can attribute coronavirus for that. There are several factors that affect movie business.”