"For the past fortnight people have simply stopped coming although we are running three shows a day," said Tarakeswar Majumdar, a cinema manager in Assam's main city of Guwahati.

"Ticket sales have gone down by about 75 percent."

Three people have been killed and more than 120 wounded in the past few months in bomb attacks on cinemas which police blame on separatist guerrillas.

"There were at least seven attacks on cinema halls during the past few months, with militants belonging to the United Liberation Front of Asom (Ulfa) lobbing grenades," a senior police official said.

The attacks follow a ban by at least 11 separatist groups, including the outlawed Ulfa, on the screening of Hindi-language films, popularly known as "Bollywood" movies, in the northeastern region.

The militants called the ban last November but the attacks have increased in recent weeks.

At least seven people including two policemen were injured last Wednesday when suspected Ulfa militants threw a grenade at a crowd outside a cinema in the eastern town of Dibrugarh.

The explosion took place minutes before the evening show -- featuring a Hindi-language movie -- was to end.

"I almost escaped death last week," said Narayan Baruah, a businessman in Dibrugarh. "Nobody is going to take a risk now, even if the cinemas were screening Assamese films."

India's northeast region boasts more than 300 cinemas with around 35 distributors catering to Hindi films. But many have already stopped buying such films.

The separatists have not imposed a ban on Western films, which remain popular in the region where English is more widely spoken than Hindi.

In Manipur state, a militant ban on screening Hindi movies has been in force since 2001 and is being heeded by all cinema owners.