Bollywood comes to a screeching halt as the Uddhav Thackeray-led state government, yesterday, announced Section 144 and introduced a slew of restrictions to curb the rise of Coronavirus cases in Maharashtra. Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathan, Salman Khan’s Tiger 3 and Prabhas’s magnum opus Adipurush are among the top Bollywood productions that will be directly impacted by the move. 

Dismissing rumours of Pathan’s shoot being halted earlier in the week due to unit members testing positive for the virus, a source reveals, “A schedule break was anyway slated for April 13 and 14. The team was conducting patchwork shoot at the Yash Raj Films studio with a slim crew of 25 till April 12, and was to start the next leg soon. However, abiding by the new  rules, the shoot of the Siddharth Anand-directed vehicle is on hold for the next fortnight, starting Thursday.”

The filming of Tiger 3 had not suffered a setback despite leading lady Katrina Kaif coming down with the infection as director Maneesh Sharma was shooting portions with Salman at a ground in Andheri East. “Maneesh had reworked the schedule to defer the filming of crowded scenes, including one that required over 10 stunt artistes with Salman,” reveals a source.  

The shoot of Dongri To Dubai has been progressing at Madh Island, under the watchful eyes of director Shujaat Saudagar. “We have recreated Dongri [at the venue]. Dongri is meant to be a highly populated area, but, we have been filming sequences that are more controlled. If the chain [of virus transmission] is broken in the next month, the rules [for crowd sequences] may be relaxed. When that happens, we’ll film the necessary portions,” says Saudagar, who has 40 days of work remaining. The director was hoping to wrap the principal photography by mid-June, before the latest regulations threw a spanner in the works.

Confirming that all shoots stand cancelled for the next 15 days, J D Majethia, chairman (TV division), Indian Film and Television Producers’ Council, says, “We want to stand by the government in these times.” His production, Wagle Ki Duniya, had hit the pause button after a few crew members tested positive. “Post the [imposed break], we intend to continue shooting in a bio-bubble, adhering to all safety norms,” he adds.