In a big relief to the Telugu film industry, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao on Friday gave a green signal to movie shootings from June, but asked the film industry to prepare an action plan on the limited resumption of film shooting and pre-production activities by adhering to social distancing norms amidst the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
Rao on Friday met a number of producers and actors from the Telugu film industry including Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Rajamouli, Allu Arvind, Trivikram Srinivas, Dil Raju, Suresh Babu, Koratla Shiva, N Shankar among others. Talking to mediapersons after the meeting, Telangana minister for cinematography Talasani Srinivasa Yadav said the Telugu film industry representatives apprised the CM of several issues related to the industry arising out of the pandemic.
“The CM asked the film industry to draw out an action plan on how shooting and pre-production activities can be resumed in a limited way by adhering to social distancing and other norms,” Talasani Srinivas Yadav told mediapersons after the meeting with delegation of representatives of the film industry.
In the meeting, the Telugu film industry bigwigs told Rao lakhs of workers and technicians were affected as shooting activities were stopped due to the complete lockdown. “The film industry requested that the shootings be allowed, while strictly following the Covid-19 norms like maintenance of physical distancing and sanitation,” Talasani Yadav told the mediapersons after the meeting. “We have asked the film industry to come up with a plan. The situation would be reviewed by the chief minister and a decision on lifting restrictions on the industry would be taken after that,” Yadav said.
On Thursday, Tollywood’s biggies Nagarjuna, Rajamouli, Allu Aravind, Suresh Babu, and Dil Raju, assembled at Chiranjeevi’s residence in Hyderabad for a meeting with Talasani Srinivas Yadav. The film industry representatives expressed concern over the huge losses incurred by the industry after the shootings were cancelled due to corona virus outbreak. Chiranjeevi told the minister that lakhs of workers and technicians were robbed of their livelihood due to the ongoing lockdown. “As have to live with the virus, film shootings should be allowed,” Chiranjeevi told the minister.
Work in film and TV industries in the state came to halt on March 23 in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. All cinema halls were shut down, the shootings were cancelled until further instructions from the government. Chiranjeevi suspended the shooting of his upcoming film Acharya, which is being directed by Koratala Siva. The shooting of SS Rajamouli’s film RRR has been put on hold due to coronavirus outbreak. The production of actor Pawan Kalyan’s Vakeel Saab, the official remake of Pink, has now been postponed.
