The Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA) on Sunday called for a halt of shoots of all entertainment formats in view of the spread of the COVID-19. A joint meeting of the leading bodies — IMPPA, Western India Film Producers’ Association (WIFPA), Indian Film and TV Producers Council (IFTPC), Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) and Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) — arrived at the unanimous decision to stop shooting of films, TV serials, web series and all other entertainment, including digital formats, from March 19 to March 31.
The film units shooting till then have been advised to follow all precautionary and preventive measures without fail.
Concerns were raised about life ahead for the daily wage earners, the light boys, spotboys, set workers, carpenters, painters, sound assistants, junior artistes and junior technicians and stuntsperson etc who would be the most affected by the decision. Like in the case of demonetisation in 2016, the closure will be most crippling for the humblest workforce.
“How can the industry come together to help the daily wagers? They’re the ones who’ll be cast adrift when the production lockdown comes into effect,” tweeted producer Anupama Mandloi. “How do the workers that live off daily wages make their ends meet? We must put our heads together. We are not getting past this problem in a hurry…” tweeted filmmaker Anubhav Sinha. Filmmakers like Sudhir Mishra and Hansal Mehta spoke about setting up funds, with Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap voicing support.
“During such times it is practically impossible to set up a machinery in place quickly. A machine that will collect monies from all of us and then will disburse to the needy,” filmmaker Anubhav Sinha told The Hindu. According to him setting up a large fund and its management would be complex and he proposed that each filmmaker could look after and cover workers from their previous films. “So what I am doing is that any daily wage worker from my last film who has an urgent need because of the shoot cancellations can reach out to the respective head of department (HoD) and then the HoD will reach out to me and I will do the best that I can do,” he said.
The decision on the resumption of shoots will be taken on March 30 after taking the prevailing conditions into consideration.