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With the second wave of COVID-19 spreading rapidly over the months, the nation has witnessed several adversities, including a devastating number of deaths. Owing to the nature of the virus and its horrifying effects, a lockdown in several states including Maharashtra was imposed in May, shutting all shooting schedules in Mumbai. Now, several cine bodies, including the Indian Film & Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA), Indian Film & Television Producers’ Council (IFTPC) and Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), sent a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the weekend, making an appeal to allow the resumption of shoots in Mumbai from June.
JD Majethia, chairman, TV & web, IFTPC, stated, “We have requested the CM to allow us to shoot from the first week of June.” Majethia, who has been conducting the shoot of Wagle Ki Duniya in Gujarat since April-end, asserts that resuming work in Mumbai is necessary as setting up base in another state bleeds the makers dry and leaves little employment opportunities for daily-wagers.
Ashoke Pandit, president, IFTDA, said, “We had requested the government to allow us to continue our post-production work, as it is done in a controlled environment with a few people. But we didn’t get a response to the letter. Now, our only appeal is to consider showbiz as one of the important industries. If we don’t resume work by June, it will be a huge loss for us and we won’t be able to bounce back. Our daily-wage workers are suffering.”
The unions are awaiting the go-ahead from the CMO to kickstart the cine workers’ vaccination, which will be partly sponsored by Aditya Chopra. In the interim, they have tied up with SRV Hospital in Goregaon for the treatment of workers, COVID or otherwise. “If any of our workers falls sick, he can avail 40 per cent discount on treatment. Also, they don’t have to make any initial payment when getting hospitalised,” said BN Tiwari, president, FWICE.
(Source: Mid Day)
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