B’wood in vaccination mode
Camps organised in anticipation of shootings resuming
Many Bollywood actors and crew have been getting vaccinated against COVID19 at a huge camp organised at Mumbai’s mammoth Mehboob Studios by Ritesh Sidhwani of Excel Entertainment in partnership with the Producers’ Guild headed by Siddharth Roy Kapur. “An activity of such importance and magnitude cannot be carried out singlehandedly and we are extremely grateful for the support we have received to make this possible — in particular from our members Excel Entertainment, who played a pivotal role in securing the vaccines, and Mehboob Productions, who very generously offered complementary use of the spacious Mehboob Studios,” says Kapur.
Sidhwani has tied up with the Bhakti Vedanta Hospital for the vaccines. It is learnt that he was instrumental in
15,000 doses of the vaccine being procured in the month of May. Meanwhile, Yash Raj Films, which had asked for
60,000 vials of the vaccine for 300,000 members of the industry, has also started vaccinating the entire crew of the films being shot at their studios, notably Pathan. “The idea is to get a jump start when shootings resume this month and it is good that the producers are taking this initiative as it helps them feel safer, though they will adhere to safety protocols,” says a spokesperson of the Federation of Western India Cine Employee (FWICE). Producer Sajid Nadiadwala, who has four films at various stages of production, has also started the process of getting all his cast and crew vaccinated before they start filming. Meanwhile Manish Goswami, vice-president of the Guild, says they are looking at vaccinating close to 5,000 people. Those already registered on Co-WIN can also receive vaccinations at the venue. Each jab is priced at
`1,000. The cost will be borne by the respective production houses. Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and Rohit Shetty’s Picturez have also joined the vaccination drive.
These initiatives aim at creating as safe an environment as possible for film shooting to resume. Actress Malavika Mohanan was one of the first who reached Mehboob Studios for the
vaccination