Yash Raj Films to vaccinate movie industry employees
Premium- The inoculation drive be conducted in phases, given the huge number of vaccines required to cover the industry, with the first phase aiming to administer doses to 3,500-4,000 people
NEW DELHI: Production house Yash Raj Films (YRF) will vaccinate around 30,000 registered members of FWICE (Federation of Western India Cine Employees), a film industry workers’ union based in Mumbai. The studio inoculated its own employees in an earlier drive.
“After inoculating all the employees at YRF, we started vaccinating the crew members of our films and have now started the vaccination drive for the Hindi film industry. This will result in the daily wage earners of our industry returning to work and providing financial stability for themselves and their families," Akshaye Widhani, senior vice-president, Yash Raj Films, said in a statement.
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The inoculation drive be conducted in phases, Widhwani added, given the huge number of vaccines required to cover the industry, with the first phase aiming to administer doses to 3,500-4,000 people.
Earlier this month, the Producers Guild of India, the association of film, television and digital content producers, had launched a vaccination drive for its members and production crews. Through these camps, production personnel will be vaccinated over a multi-day drive being held at Mehboob Studios in Mumbai, the Guild had said in a statement.
“An activity of such importance and magnitude cannot be carried out singlehandedly and we are extremely grateful for the support we have received to make this possible," Siddharth Roy Kapur, president of the Producers Guild of India had said referring to members like Excel Entertainment owned by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani who played a role in securing the vaccines and Mehboob Productions who offered their space.
As far as the film business goes, multiplex chain PVR Cinemas has also announced free vaccination of all its employees across the country as it grapples with the indefinite shutdown of movie theatres amid the second wave of covid-19 pandemic. The company said 29% of its employees and their dependents have already been vaccinated.
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