COVID-19 Effect: FWICE, film bodies halt shooting of all entertainment products

After the meeting of the Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees (FWICE), Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA) and Indian Film & Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA), it was decided to stop the shooting of all the films and television shows across India for a brief period amid coronavirus outbreak. As per ANI, the bodies decided to stop the shooting of all the entertainment products from 19 March to 31 March looking at the current scare from coronavirus in the country and the world.

The agency tweeted, “Film bodies, including Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association,Federation of Western India Cine Employees and Indian Film&Television Directors’ Association,in a meeting today decided to halt shooting of entertainment products from 19 March to 31 March,in view of #CoronaVirus.”

Film bodies,including Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association,Federation of Western India Cine Employees and Indian Film&Television Directors’ Association,in a meeting today decided to halt shooting of entertainment products from 19 March to 31 March,in view of #CoronaVirus

B N Tiwari, President of FWICE, before the meeting told PTI, “The idea of the meeting is to discuss about stopping shooting of films and TV serials for sometime due to coronavirus as a lot of people usually work on the sets. We have to keep in mind the safety of all the members of associations against Corona outbreak.”

“In the meeting we will discuss if the proper course of action is not taken on the sets regarding the safety of members the shoot has to be stopped, if they are following all the necessary precautions then in some cases the shooting schedules should not be disturbed,” he added.

Cinema halls have been closed in Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat and in parts of Maharashtra till the end of this month, to contain the virus that has been declared a pandemic by the WHO.

The deadly virus originated in China’s Wuhan city in December last year and has killed over 5,000 people and infected more than 134,000 globally. The number of novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 83 on Saturday, which includes one death each from Delhi and Karnataka.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)