Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; March 19, 2020)

On Sunday, the representatives from Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), Indian Film and Television Producers Council, Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA), Western India Film Producers’ Association, Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association and a few others had a closed door meeting in which they had decided to stop the shoots of TV shows, films, ads and OTT content from March 19 to 31 in the wake of the Coronavirus epidemic.

However, on Tuesday, March 17, the makers were instructed to stop all the work immediately. In the wake of this, the FWICE has decided to distribute ration and materials of basic necessity to daily-wage workers who will be adversely affected by work coming to a sudden halt. The distribution will be held for a full week, starting from March 22, at Filmistan Studios (Goregaon). In order to avoid chaos or large public gatherings, the federation has devised a plan.

Talking about it, Ashoke Pandit, chief advisor to the FWICE and the head of IFTDA, said, “This is an important step to help out our workers who survive on daily wages. Their bread and butter have been impacted hugely because of the temporary shutdown. So, we will be distributing basic things like rice, dals and atta to the workers who need it. To avoid a mass congregation, we will be doing the activity for an entire week, throughout the day, in a staggered manner. So, on a said day, we may not have workers from more than two associations coming in. We also have doctors and an ambulance on stand-by throughout the week at the venue, so if someone seems unwell, we can immediately send them to a medical facility. Among those who came forward right away to support were producers Hemant Ruprell and Ranjeet Thakur, and filmmakers Rohit Shetty, Sajid Nadiadwala, Aanand L Rai, David Dhawan. Apart from them, others from the industry like Javed Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, Madhur Bhandarkar and Anupam Kher have also stepped forward to assist the federation in this exercise. We are grateful to them.”
-----------------------------
In a week-long drive starting Sunday, FWICE to dispense 15 kilos of essential food items to those affected by the suspension of the shoot
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; March 19, 2020)

As the industry joins forces to fight the plight of daily wage workers, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) is lending a helping hand by distributing groceries and other supplies to them. The association has teamed up with Frames Production, one of the leading studios in television, for the week-long drive that will kick off on March 22.

As part of the drive, junior artistes and crew members — who are no longer getting payments owing to their shoots being stalled — can collect their monthly supplies at Filmistan Studios in Goregaon. President Birendra Nath Tiwari elaborates, "We will distribute sacks of 15 kilos each that will contain five kilos of rice, two kilos dal, five kilos atta, some masala and other non-perishable items. For now, the plan is to run this drive for a week."

He cautions employees to not throng the studio on the first day, as the state government has discouraged large gatherings in light of the pandemic. "Everyone should not land up on Sunday fearing that we will run out of supplies. There are enough supplies for about 10,000 daily wage workers. We are also in talks with the state government, seeking help in crowd management."

While the drive is partly sponsored by the FWICE fund, Tiwari reveals that several producers from television have pledged their support. "B P Singh, the creator of CID, has donated a couple of lakhs for this initiative. Shashi Sumeet Productions too have sent us money for the supplies. We have to manoeuvre our way through the grim times."