A film industry delegation on Friday said Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray was receptive to the idea of resuming shooting in the state after a gap of two months and has asked for identification of green zone areas where work can restart.
Twelve members of the entertainment industry had met the chief minister via video conferencing, where they asked the CM to let the entertainment industry reopen and gave suggestions on a graded plan.
IFTPC (Indian Film and Television Producers Council) chairman JD Majethia, present in the meeting, told News18.com that the CM said the resumption of post-production of daily soaps and films can begin soon, provided stipulated restrictions are strictly followed.
It was also discussed that the shooting must be conducted with minimal crew, including the actors and technicians.
Filming and all related work in Mumbai has been shut for over two months because of the coronavirus lockdown, and while relaxations on activities have been given in some parts of the state, the city continues to remain under the red zone after it emerged as the virus epicentre.
"The CM was very receptive. The entire Mumbai is in red zone but we have been asked to identify areas where we can restart shoot without harming the public. As and when we progress, we need to study the situation and where we can start the shoot but he said that we can look forward to starting the shoot soon," Majethia said.
"We also requested him to allow us work on our respective sets in order to beat the monsoons," he added. A team will also be sent to the Film City to make the on spot assessment of the situation.
Others who were present in the meeting were Ekta Kapoor, actor-producer Adesh Bandekar, Puneet Goenka (ZEE MD and CEO), Rahul Joshi (Viacom18 MD and CEO), NP Singh (CEO Sony Pictures Network India), Deepak Dhar (Founder and CEO Banijay Asia), and Nitin Vaidya (IFTPC Managing Member).
"The aim of this meeting was to figure out by when we can resume shooting at the latest. The CM was very positive in his approach towards our plans. We have given the government our suggestions and they will prepare a plan in 3-4 days. We discussed how we could get the maximum output with minimum number of people and how we could go about the post production of the projects which have been already finished," Adesh Bandekar said.
The meeting was also attended by Puneet Misra, ZEE CEO, Domestic Broadcasting Business, Abhishek Rege, EndemolShine India CEO and Dr Sanjay Mukharji, Secretary Cultural Government of Maharashtra.
This comes two days after Thackeray asked the entertainment industry to prepare an action plan on limited resumption of film shooting and post-production activities by adhering to social distancing norms amidst the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
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