After the second round of lockdown, getting back to work in Bollywood might require more than just a negative report, with the industry looking at widespread vaccination drive to restart activities. Though the Maharashtra government has temporarily suspended vaccination for 18-44 group, there are many production houses that are looking at procuring vaccines in bulk for their staff.

This comes after several actors, including Madhuri Dixit Nene, Anil Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar, Radhika Madan and Riteish Deshmukh, got their vaccine shot.

Actor Tamannaah Bhatia feels it’ll not only enable the industry to churn out content, but also support daily wagers. “From an industry perspective, it’ll help them get back on their feet and keep economic activity going. I hope the government, in due course of time, will address this,” says the actor.

According to Shibasish Sarkar, CEO, Reliance Entertainment, it is “impossible” to think about getting back to work without vaccination. “There’s no permanent solution to it, unless you can get your team vaccinated,” he says.

As vaccination drive picks up, some from industry have started to put out appeals to the Maharashtra government, urging them to let them get industry members inoculated.

While the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA) has written to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to set up a vaccination centre for its members, Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) also has requested the state government to provide vaccines for its artists and workers. Yash Raj Films (YRF) head Aditya Chopra has requested the CM to allow the company to purchase 30,000 vaccines. One stop vaccine centre is important, too, points out J D Majethia, Chairman, TV division of IFTPC. “We’ve written to the government to make a centre in Film City,” he says.

Nitin Tej Ahuja, CEO of Producers Guild of India says, “We’ve been in talks with government departments and private bodies to facilitate mass vaccination camps for film fraternity.”

Though vaccination might seem as a potential way out, many point that the scarcity of the life saving drug is making it a tough path.

“Today, availability of vaccines is the biggest challenge. We’ve been talking directly with the manufacturers, hospitals and even laboratories, to get access to it. We haven’t been able to get it, but we’re trying to see if we can get a certain level of quantum, which can cover our staff,” Sarkar says.

To this, Birendra Nath Tiwari, President of Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees, adds, “The shortage is the biggest problem abhi. Ussi wajah se kafi aur log bhi ruke hue hain. We hope to get clarity on getting stock till May end. In fact, I might ask Salman Khan to also pitch for vaccination.”

That said, lyricist Javed Akhtar stresses that vaccination doesn’t mean letting go of other safety precautions.

“It can become safer to work when everybody is vaccinated. But even after the jab, there's no guarantee that nothing will happen to you, so one has to be careful,” he cautions.