The Bollywood strike is having repercussions in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.
The Raja, the only Indian movie cinema in the area, has temporarily shut its doors until next month.
Theatre chains in New York, the U.S. and Europe have joined movie houses in India that have closed because of the strike.
A dispute between Bollywood producers and India's cinema chains has meant no new films are being issued.
Zahir Rajani, who co-owns the Raja Cinema on Kingsway in Vancouver, says film producers started withholding new movies from theatres in March.
"It trickled down to basically everybody. So we had had a period where there was, you know, on average … the small movie coming out every couple of weeks and then now it's just come to a complete standstill," he told CBC News.
There is a change happening in the way Bollywood movies, famous for their lavish song and dance numbers, are being financed.
Bollywood producers used to get their money from private backers, often family companies, but that money has dried up.
They'd like to move to a system more like Hollywood, where cinema box office provides them with revenue.
But India's cinema chains don't like that idea. The producers stopped putting out new movies seven weeks ago to pressure the chains to talk about sharing box office 50/50.
They say the multiplexes, which serve affluent and middle-class Indians, can afford that much. But the chains are offering less and the two sides are at a stalemate.
Rajani said his theatre has lost thousands of dollars in revenue.
"It's a cultural thing as well — to get out you know — watch movies with your friends, family. It's an outing. It's been … I'd say it's been upsetting."
He is hoping to reopen his doors in June.
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