Chennai: Tamil Nadu has brought back 6 am movie shows ahead of the Diwali festive season, with Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay revising the rules governing cinema show timings.
The move comes ahead of several major releases, including Scene, Mookuthi Amman 2 and Ramayana, and is expected to benefit theatres and moviegoers keen to catch early-morning screenings.
According to a press release, the revised rules allow new Tamil films to have six shows a day across the state, with screenings permitted from 6 am to 2.30 am the following day during their first week in theatres.
Following the stampede during the 2023 release of Ajith Kumar’s Thunivu, Tamil Nadu restricted theatres to four shows a day.
The cap remained in place for three years under the Tamil Nadu Cinemas (Regulation) Rules, 1957, and Condition 14-A of the ‘Form C’ licence issued to cinema theatres.
The revised provisions also cover local festival days, public holidays and weekends, apart from the first week of a film’s release.
The Tamil Film Active Producers Association, Tamil Film Producers Council and Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners Association had submitted several requests to the government, including permission for six daily screenings during a film’s opening week.
Sharing the press release on X (formerly Twitter), producer-distributor G Dhananjayan provided further details about the request, writing, “We made the request on 27th Oct to the Hon. Minister Thiru @imrajmohan sir and within a week, he obtained the permission from our Hon @CMOTamilnadu Thiru @TVKVijayHQ sir for the 6 am special shows – a true example for a responsive government for the welfare of its people and industries. Thank you #CMVijay sir & thank you #Rajmohan sir for this quick response and Government Order. We at Tamil Cinema wish to express our gratitude to both of you for this great support.”
We made the request on 27th Oct to the Hon. Minister Thiru @imrajmohan sir and within a week, he obtained the permission from our Hon @CMOTamilnadu Thiru @TVKVijayHQ sir for the 6 am special shows – a true example for a responsive government for the welfare of its people and industries.
Thank you #CMVijay sir &
thank you #Rajmohan sir for this quick response and Government Order. We at Tamil Cinema wish to express our gratitude to both of you for this great support 💐🙏— G Dhananjheyan (@Dhananjayang) November 3, 2026
The decision is likely to benefit several upcoming Diwali releases, although it remains unclear whether dubbed Tamil films will also be covered under the revised rules.
Jithu Madhavan’s Scene, starring Suriya, Nazriya Nazim and Naslen, and Sundar C’s Mookuthi Amman 2, featuring Nayanthara and Regina Cassandra, are both slated to release on November 6 and stand to benefit from the decision.
Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Sai Pallavi and Yash, is also set to release in Tamil. However, it remains to be seen whether the film will be permitted to have six shows a day.