Amid rising Coronavirus cases, film shoots in Delhi-NCR come to a halt
8:21 AM
Posted by Fenil Seta
Niharika Lal (BOMBAY TIMES; April 19, 2021)
Months after film shoots had been halted due to the pandemic, over 15 projects were filmed in NCR between January and March, as COVID cases were low. However, with the recent surge in Coronavirus cases across the country and in Delhi, film shoots in NCR have been brought to a standstill again. After Maharashtra imposed a night curfew, which was later followed by Delhi, line producers in the city say they were getting queries and around 60-70 per cent of ad shoots were expected to be shifted to the capital, along with shoots of a few films and web series. But after the weekend curfew was announced in Delhi (on April 15), queries have reduced to a few. Currently, the only shoots happening in the capital are ad shoots in farm houses, as all major film shoots have been stalled.
FILM SHOOTS POSTPONED
Line producers say that even though shoot permissions were acquired, most production houses have decided to not shoot in NCR due to the current situation. Sumit Tyagi, a line producer, says, “The shoot schedule of Fukrey 3 was ready and some locations were final, but now, the film’s shoot has been postponed. Rajkummar Rao’s Monica, O My Darling, which was scheduled for this month, has also been postponed.”
Javed Khan, a line producer, says, “Abhishek Bachchan, Yami Gautam and Nimrat Kaur’s Dasvi’s next schedule was a week-long shoot in Delhi, but due to the rise in COVID cases it has been halted, and a day-long indoor shoot may happen in NCR at a later date. Abhishek will not come to Delhi for the shoot. Tejas also had a short schedule in Delhi which has been stalled.” Another line producer informs, “Luv Ranjan’s was scheduled this month in NCR, but it has been postponed.” However, films scheduled for June are not cancelled yet.
‘LOCALS COMPLAIN TO THE POLICE ABOUT SHOOTS’
With a rise in COVID cases, locals end up complaining to the police about the gathering due to film shoots. Javed says, “If we tell the police that we will shoot with a small crew of 20-30 people, we get permissions. But when locals see a shooting happening in their area, they call the Police Control Room. Earlier this week, in Lucknow, where Dasvi’s shoot was going on in a park, some locals complained to the police and objected to it due to rising COVID cases, and the shoot was stalled. This is a new problem we are facing in cities with a higher number of cases. Last Sunday when I was shooting for an ad in Lodhi Colony in Delhi, locals objected to the shoot. We had a small crew and all the permissions. They complained to the police, asking why a film shoot was being allowed when there are restrictions in place.”
UNLESS CASES GO DOWN, SHOOTS MAY NOT HAPPEN IN NCR
Another issue line producers say they face is not getting the junior artistes’ COVID rest results. A line producer says, “We receive COVID test results of the crew before the shoot begins. But at every location, junior artistes are different and getting their test results on time is not possible.” Line producers say that unless the number of cases go down, shoots are unlikely to happen in NCR or elsewhere.
This entry was posted on October 4, 2009 at 12:14 pm, and is filed under
Bollywood News,
Coronavirus,
Dasvi,
Delhi,
Fukrey 3,
Javed Khan,
Lucknow,
Luv Ranjan,
Monica O My Darling,
Sumit Tyagi
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