SHOWING THE WAY!
As Akshay Kumar gets back to work, with all the precautions, we ask filmmakers, experts if this is going to be the ‘new normal’
India has been on pause since mid-March, and that also means film shoots and postproduction activities in Mumbai have come to a halt. Although the film industry’s representatives are in discussion with Maharashtra government about resuming work, a green signal is yet to be given. But on Monday, Akshay Kumar and filmmaker R Balki hit the sets, at Kamalistan studio, in suburban Mumbai, to shoot an ad campaign for the Health Ministry. The team took all the precautions, including social distancing, wearing masks and working with minimal crew, etc.
Now, the big question arises: is this going to be the ‘new normal’ vis-à-vis restarting work on films? “For me, it was great to discover how to go about things in a ‘new’ set-up. We got used to it in a few minutes. Even the main idea of social message film is that people — wherever possible — need to get back to work with all the precautions in place. We can’t be sitting at home forever,” says Balki.
Besides hygiene and social distancing, ensuring minimum crew is going to be the biggest change on a Hindi film set, which is used to having an average of 200-250 people around. “I feel this should have happened anyway. Our sets were always overloaded with people. Now, with hygiene and safety being important, we have to get used to smaller crews,” says filmmaker Nikkhil Advani, who has multiple shows and films, including an Arjun Kapoor-Rakul Preet Singh starrer, under production.
Insiders maintain that the industry is “keen to kickstart work with all the safety precautions in place” considering a number of films such as Mumbai Saga, Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, Laal Singh Chaddha, Brahmastra, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, Mimi, and others, are stuck. “This is going to be a ‘new normal’. After all, the safety and wellbeing of people comes first. And by now, everyone is extremely aware of the required hygiene , safety precautions,” says trade analyst Taran Adarsh.
But won’t minimising crew size impact many badly? “Maybe, we can use the crew on a rotational basis — at least on films that require a few days’ work — so that everyone gets to work. Our sets were quite unsafe and unhygienic. This will bring discipline,” says Advani. Balki puts things in perspective, by saying: “A smaller crew size will make us work more efficiently.”