Coronavirus outbreak: Producers Guild announces Relief Fund, Mahesh Bhatt & others react

Producers Guild of India (GUILD) on Tuesday announced that they have set up a relief fund for daily wage earners impacted by the shutdown of film, television and web productions amid coronavirus pandemic. In a statement shared on Twitter, Siddharth Roy Kapur, president of the GUILD, urged the members of the film fraternity to contribute to the fund to "minimize the disruption in the lives of our valued colleagues".

READ: Coronavirus Shutdown: Producers Guild Of India Announce Relief Fund For Daily Wage Workers

 Producers Guild of India sets up a relief fund

"In the light of the complete shutdown of all production-related activity for the foreseeable future due to the COVID-19 outbreak, there is bound to be a significant impact on the lives and livelihoods of daily wage earners in the industry. "The Producers Guild of India has decided to set up a Relief Fund to help support those affected by the shutdown. We would encourage the entire fraternity to contribute to the fund to minimize the disruption in the lives of our valued colleagues and associates in this difficult time," Kapur said in a statement.

Reacting to it, Filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt and Anubhav Sinha lauded the decision. Read below- 

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The decision comes after many from the film industry, including filmmakers Sudhir Mishra, Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap, had raised concerns over the impact of the shutdown on the daily wage workers. Various film bodies in India including Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees (FWICE), Indian Film & Television Directors'' Association (IFTDA) and GUILD on Sunday decided to put all productions on hold from March 19 to March 31 to control the spread of the deadly virus.

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