Coronavirus hits Bollywood with loss pegged 80-90 cr; Ashoke Pandit & others hold meet

The government has shut down gyms, cinema halls, schools and several other public places in an effort to fight the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Similarly, the film fraternity and the entertainment industry have taken note. And as per reports,  The Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA), Western India Film Producers’ Association (WIFPA), Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) and Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) met and took a decision to halt all film and TV shootings from March 19 till the end of the month.

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Necessary steps taken by the film fraternity 

Ashoke Pandit, president, IFTDA informed, “We met on Sunday at the IMPPA office and decided unanimously to shut down shooting. As for the losses, we all felt jaan hai toh jahan hai.” The association is said to analyse the situation in the country post March 31. Trade analyst Atul Mohan observed, “The film industry will suffer a loss of ₹80-90 crore every week. I think daily soaps will be the worst hit.”

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And while directors Anubhav Sinha, Anurag Kashyap, and Sudhir Mishra welcomed the move, they were concerned about remunerations of junior technicians such as light boys, set workers, sound assistants and the like. 

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Meanwhile, films hit include Nikamma (the last schedule was to kick off from Sunday), the Ooty schedule of Mukesh Bhatt’s Sadak 2 (March 19-24) and Sanjay Gupta’s Mumbai Saga. “Our shoot stopped earlier due to Kartik Aaryan’s injury. Then we were told by the Uttar Pradesh government that shoots are cancelled due to the virus,” the report further quoted. 

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