Insiders feel daily wage earners will benefit most from the move

The lockdown has had an adverse impact on everyone, including the showbiz world. And daily wage crew members — such as spot boys, carpenters, tailors and drivers etc. — have been hit hardest. But now, as the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting greenlights shoots with guidelines, the fraternity has welcomed the move, adding it will have an immediate and direct positive impact on daily wagers.

“It has been five months since the lockdown started (on March 25). Do you think it has been easy for people? Not at all,” says filmmaker Nikkhil Advani, who has multiple projects readying to go on the floors now. In fact, last week, when Advani held rehearsals at Filmcity for Kaashvie Nair’s film (his next production starring Arjun Kapoor and Rakul Preet Singh), a few crew members came up to thank him. “They were like, ‘It’s becoming difficult to keep up with the expenses with every passing day.’ Remember actors, directors or producers can survive this lockdown, but for daily wagers, it’s an everyday earning,” he says.

Many feel while daily wage crew members will benefit, the ministry’s move will impact the entire ecosystem of the industry. “Of course, the daily wagers stand to benefit from work resuming in full flow. But we also have many actors, especially in the TV world, who work on daily-wage basis. And none of them earned a penny till TV shows restarted shoots in June. The great thing is now we can look at shooting anywhere in the country,”

says Amit Behl, senior joint secretary and chairperson of Cine & TV Artists Association (CINTAA).

Director Anees Bazmee, on his part, feels that a longer lockdown can make things “tougher for many”. “We (filmmakers and actors etc.) have had no issues (due to the lockdown) but the daily wagers have had a really tough time. Unke liye toh roz ki kamaai hoti hai,” says the Welcome (2007) maker, adding: “Ek filmmaker ya actor sirf shauq ke liye bhi film kar sakta hai par for them, it’s their only source of income. Agar yeh kaam nahi hoga toh shayad bahuton ke ghar chulhe bhi nahi jalenge.”