Mumbai: The
Indian film and television industry has decided to halt shooting for films, TV and web shows from March 19 to 31. A call on restarting shooting will be taken at the end of the month.
A decision to this effect was taken here on Sunday during an emergency meeting of the five industry associations —the
Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees (FWICE), the Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA), the Indian
Film & Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA), the Indian Film and Television Producers Council (IFTPC) and the Western India Film Producers' Association (WIFPA).
Film and show producers have been given three days, till March 19, to pack up their shooting across India and overseas locations. Also, the call on restarting shootings will be taken on March 30, after considering the prevailing situation, the associations said in a joint statement.
“In the interest of the country, society and film workers, all the associations on Indian film industry have taken the decision to shut shootings of films, TV serials and web shows across India from March 19 to 31,” said JD Majethia, vice president, IFTPC.
The biggest impact of this development will be on TV broadcasters, who usually don’t have a bank of daily soaps. Two broadcasters told ET that while they respect the decision, business continuity is now at a risk. “We may have to run repeats of old shows for some time. This is an unprecedented situation and nobody was ready for this,” a programming head of a Hindi general entertainment channel said.