Various film bodies in India including 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 coronavirus.
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".
"In the light of
the complete shutdown of all production relation 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.
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 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.
Mishra had first
raised the issue on Twitter. "We all are interconnected. We thought of
doing something, we will look after those who have worked with us. We have
informed our head of departments. We are there to help. Anubhav Sinha,
Vikramaditya Motwane have informed their own people. I am sure Rohit Shetty will be helping his own
people. We can survive for six months but the daily wage workers are going to suffer
a lot. We all should help each other," the director told PTI.
Sinha had suggested that managing a large
fund would be "complex" but filmmaker should look after their crew.
"Let’s communicate to our daily wage workers through respective HoDs from
our previous films to reach out to us if they are in need. I feel if each one
of us looked after our workers from our previous films they will all be
covered...," he tweeted.
Motwane had welcomed the move, tweeting,
"Daily wage workers are going to have a really hard time, especially if
this carries on beyond the end of the month."