As IMPPA, FWICE and other cine associations halt productions from March 19 in the wake of Coronavirus, shoot of Bollywood biggies Mumbai Saga, Haseen Dillruba pushed; TV shows in limbo
Uma Ramasubramanian (MID-DAY; March 16, 2020)

Two days after the Maharashtra government receded into a partial shutdown to curb the spread of Coronavirus, film bodies in India — including Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees (FWICE), Indian Motion Pictures Producers' Association (IMPPA), Western India Film Producers' Association (WIFPA) and Indian Film & Television Directors' Association (IFTDA) — decided yesterday to stop the shoot of films and television shows from March 19. The shutdown will be exercised till March 31. Ashoke Pandit, president, IFTDA, says the move was necessary as there are rising health concerns across the country. "We have given a three-day grace period so that people have time to pack up and rework their schedules. The shutdown will begin from Thursday midnight. It not only applies to shoots in India, but also to those currently filming their projects abroad."

The latest decision may affect a spate of films that are currently on floors, including Mumbai Saga, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 and Haseen Dillruba.

While the principal shoot of John Abraham and Emraan Hashmi's gangster drama had wrapped up, the makers had plans of filming two songs in a Mumbai studio, in the coming weeks. When mid-day reached out to Bhushan Kumar, the producer agreed that they would have to reconsider their plan in the wake of the latest mandate. "Like every other filmmaker, I will be following the decision of the cine associations. We only have some songs to be shot for Mumbai Saga, which we will obviously shoot later." In Lucknow, the shoot of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 was called off. However, Kumar insists that it was owing to leading man Kartik Aaryan's injury.

After wrapping up the Haridwar schedule of Haseen Dillruba last week, Taapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey were expected to kick off the Delhi leg next week. "With the recent decision, the Delhi stint has been postponed," says a source.

If Bollywood is grinding to a halt, the situation will be even more trying in the television industry. Producer Rajan Shahi, who was to launch his show Anupama today, says, "Along with the officials at Star Plus, I decided to defer the launch." He adds that most shows do not have a bank of episodes, and hence, will be hit harder by the decision. "The episodes we shoot till Wednesday will probably run till the weekend. After that, we may have to [re-run] old shows. We will take a call soon."