A LENGTHY INTERMISSION
Even as the film industry takes tentative steps to get the show on the road again, too many behindthe-scenes personnel find themselves cast adrift
Even as the film industry restarts, behind-thescenes artistes find themselves cast adrift
He misses the chaos of a film shoot and removing the creases from the clothes of Bollywood stars. A dressman by profession, Mohammad Asif Altaf Shaikh, 35, has worked on films such as Go Goa Gone and Fukrey Returns. One 12-hour shift would fetch him Rs 3,000; the thrill of working in Bollywood, though, was priceless. Today, however, he has had to turn to a few stylists to ask for monetary help, but they don’t take his calls. With negligible savings, the father of three has begun tailoring from home and selling packed snacks. “When there’s no work, you have to do something to run the house,” he says.
The Indian entertainment industry seems to be in the middle of one long intermission. Losses have run into thousands of crores, but the worst hit seem to be the daily wage-earners who rely on film shoots to make a living. Film and television shoots have resumed in parts of the country under Unlock 2.0 but under the shadow of standard operating procedures laid down by the various state governments (see Shooting by the Covid Rulebook). Things will certainly not be the same as before corona and Shaikh is not alone in his worry that work will be hard to come by. “We are
ready to work, but will the artists be ready?” he asks. “I see this continuing for the rest of the year.”
With Mumbai being among the epicentres of COVID-19, the film industry is understandably reluctant to return to work. Madhuri Dixit-Nene, who was set to begin a Netflix series with Dharmatic Entertainment, the digital focused arm of Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, is eager to get back to work, but only after “all precautions” are in place. “There should be a plan for how we are going to shoot without endangering anybody’s life,” she says. “How is a dining table scene that requires actors to be in close proximity going to be shot?”
Things are no better for the regional film industry. Kubera Shreshthi, nicknamed Kumara, was an assistant to Kannada actors such as Pranita Subhash (Leader), Devaraj (Santhu Straight Forward and Karva) and Kirti Kharbanda (Masthigudi). Before the lockdown, he was busy doing 12-hour shifts and earning a minimum of Rs 20,000 per month. Now, the 31-year-old resident of Laggere, Bengaluru, has had to rely on loans from friends and family and ration kits supplied by the industry to survive the Covid lockdown. Debt, too, is mounting. “No film producer will pay me the same wages as before Covid,” he says. “I will be happy if I make even Rs 400 per day. Even then, I will not be able to clear my debt for a year at least. If the film industry doesn’t stabilise, I might have to find a job in Hubballi or Belagavi and return only when things get better.”
In Kerala, Velu Vazhayur, an associate art director in over 70 Malayalam films, including Mohanlal-starrers such as Odiyan and Rasathanthram, found himself without work for the first time in his 17-year career. “It is unbearable. I have no idea when I can start working again,” he says. He would earn Rs 15,000 for a 15-hour shift. But all shooting in Kerala was suspended from
March 11 till May 25. The 47-year-old has survived the lockdown on free ration and food kits provided by the state government and an aid of Rs 7,500 from the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA). “It’s not enough to meet our daily expenses,” says Vazhayur, who has his wife and nine-year-old daughter to support.
Yet, filmmakers are adapting to shooting in the time of COVID-19. Ram Madhvani, whose web show, Aarya, debuted on Disney+ Hotstar, had the show’s actors dub their lines at home and share the files. Directors are resigned to working with a smaller crew. Tamil filmmaker Mani Ratnam, at a recent webinar, compared the current scenario to a Wimbledon final interrupted by rain. “The roof closes and the players come back later, but their rhythm has changed .... Yet the game goes on.” Wimbledon 2020 stands cancelled, but the Indian film industry cannot afford the luxury. Ratnam has war sequences to shoot for his historical drama, Ponniyin Selvan. “I need a crowd,” he said. “I don’t know how I will do it, but I will manage.” He, like S.S. Rajamouli, will have to wait as both Chennai and Hyderabad are still grappling with the virus.
Unlike films, shooting for television serials has resumed in bits and pieces, and amid strict rules. The damage, though, is already done. According to a press release sent out after a meeting late in May between Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the film bodies in Maharashtra, home to Hindi and Marathi cinema, the television industry as well as offices of OTT platforms, shooting activities of around 120 serials, including 70 Hindi, 40 Marathi and 10 streaming shows, stopped midway due to Covid, affecting the livelihoods of around 300,000 workers and technicians. The cumulative loss is estimated to be nearly Rs 3,000 crore. The Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA) has requested that no rentals be charged for the lockdown months (March to June) for sets already erected in Film City and that rates be subsidised once shoots resume.
Entertainment channels have lost both ad revenue and audience to OTT platforms. Some have had to abruptly terminate shows. While Sony TV pulled the plug on popular prime time shows Beyhadh 2, Patiala Babes and Ishaaron Ishaaron Mein for lack of resources to continue the shoots, Colors TV terminated its social drama Vidya. “The story of Vidya is incomplete...the show was affected by corona. It’s a COVID-19 death. There is no other reason for its premature demise,” producer Mahesh Pandey wrote in a post on Instagram.
The shutdown has even claimed lives, though it was Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide that became the talking point. TV actors Manmeet Grewal, 32, and Preksha
“There should be a plan for how we are going to shoot without endangering anybody’s life”
—Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Actor
Mehta, 25, committed suicide in May and June, respectively, apparently over financial constraints and career woes. It prompted the Mumbai TV fraternity to call out the delay in payments. The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), with more than 500,000 members in Maharashtra, and the Indian Film and TV Producers’ Council (IFTPC) reached an agreement on June 24 to reduce the period of credit clearance from
90 days to 30 days.
Corona safety measures will lower output and make shooting challenging, says J.D. Majethia, TV producer and chairman of the TV and web wing of the IFTPC. Majethia, whose Hats Off Productions had the comedy Bhakharwadi on air, has experienced huge losses during the period. “We could have cancelled [Bhakharwadi] and started a new one after three months,” he says. “But more than a business, it is about having a bond. Our production controller and many in the team have been with us for 18 years. We have to stand by our people.” The lights are back on the sets of Bhakharwadi in Mira Road, but Majethia will first create a bank of episodes before going on air.
Not everyone, though, is as lucky. Independent professionals hired on an assignment basis are finding it particularly tough to navigate the Covid upheaval. Till three months ago, Kolkatabased Trinath Das was a cameraman for reality TV shows such as Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and Dance Bangla Dance, earning Rs 1,500-2,000 for a day’s work. These days, you will find him getting up early to sell vegetables to feed his own family, which includes his eight-year-old son Abir. The 41-year-old has already sold his two cameras—a Z-70 (Sony) and NX 100—to settle a debt and meet medical expenses for his heart ailment. Das doesn’t know when he can get back to doing what he knows best.
Others have managed to survive so far. Mumbai-based make-up artist and hairstylist Kritika Gill’s last assignment was on March 14, when she accompanied Karisma Kapoor for the promotion of AltBalaji’s web series Mentalhood. Gill, 31, hasn’t had to dip into her savings yet, living off earnings from assignments done before the lockdown. Having worked with actors such as Kareena Kapoor-Khan, Alia Bhatt and Frieda Pinto, Gill already observed a lot of hygiene practices like cleaning brushes, now mandatory as per government guidelines. Now she is ready to don masks, face shields and gloves too. “It will be weird, but it will be fine,” she says. “All of us want to get back to work.”
“It’s like a Wimbledon final interrupted by rain. The roof closes and players come back, but the rhythm has changed...yet the game goes on”
—Mani Ratnam, Director