As Akshay Kumar gets back to work, with all the precautions, we ask filmmakers, experts if this is going to be the ‘new normal’
Prashant Singh (HINDUSTAN TIMES; May 27, 2020)

India has been on pause since mid-March due to the Coronavirus lockdown, and that also means film shoots and post-production activities in Mumbai have come to a halt. Although the film industry’s representatives are in discussion with Maharashtra government about resuming work, a green signal is yet to be given. But on Monday, Akshay Kumar and filmmaker R Balki hit the sets, at Kamalistan studio, in suburban Mumbai, to shoot an ad campaign for the Health Ministry. The team took all the precautions, including social distancing, wearing masks and working with minimal crew, etc.

Now, the big question arises: is this going to be the ‘new normal’ vis-à-vis restarting work on films? “For me, it was great to discover how to go about things in a ‘new’ set-up. We got used to it in a few minutes. Even the main idea of social message film is that people — wherever possible — need to get back to work with all the precautions in place. We can’t be sitting at home forever,” says Balki.

Besides hygiene and social distancing, ensuring minimum crew is going to be the biggest change on a Hindi film set, which is used to having an average of 200-250 people around. “I feel this should have happened anyway. Our sets were always overloaded with people. Now, with hygiene and safety being important, we have to get used to smaller crews,” says filmmaker Nikkhil Advani, who has multiple shows and films, including an Arjun Kapoor-Rakul Preet Singh starrer, under production.

Insiders maintain that the industry is “keen to kick-start work with all the safety precautions in place” considering a number of films such as Mumbai Saga, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, Laal Singh Chaddha, Brahmastra, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Mimi, and others, are stuck. “This is going to be a ‘new normal’. After all, the safety and well-being of people comes first. And by now, everyone is extremely aware of the required hygiene, safety precautions,” says trade analyst Taran Adarsh.

But won’t minimising crew size impact many badly? “Maybe, we can use the crew on a rotational basis — at least on films that require a few days’ work — so that everyone gets to work. Our sets were quite unsafe and unhygienic. This will bring discipline,” says Advani. Balki puts things in perspective, by saying: “A smaller crew size will make us work more efficiently.”
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A date with June?
The Producers Guild of India has come up with an exhaustive ‘Back to Action’ report highlighting standard operating procedures (SOPs) to be instituted whenever the government gives the permission to resume film production activities. Now, an insider reveal that the industry representatives and producers are “confident that permissions will come in soon, and that the work could start by June 15”. The insider adds: “The government has been promised that all the safety measures will be in place, and will be followed in the strictest possible manner.”