Mumbai: In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Hindi and Marathi film industry has ceased its operations by cancelling all their shoots, after the state insisted to refrain from mass gatherings in the state.
The sudden closure of the industry has caused severe inconvenience to all the daily wage workers who used to get payment on a daily basis.
Aslam Khan, 28, who works as an extra artist on films has not yet received his payment for the work he did in the first week of March. Khan has been in the film industry for the last five years and this is the first time he has experienced such a lockdown in payment.
“Most of the production companies have closed their offices, due to which we are unable to receive the payments,” he said.
Echoing his sentiment, camera operator Dilip Panse states, the union of workers and junior artists are not taking any stand in the matter. “Junior artist and technicians have always been deprived of facilities. Even though new productions have been halted, many of us haven't received payment for our completed projects as well,” said Panse.
Meanwhile, The Producers Guild of India has announced that it would set up a relief fund for daily wage earners who have been affected due to the shut down.
“The guild has decided to set up a relief fund to help support those most affected with the shutdown,” said Siddharth Roy Kapur, president of the guild through a press statement.
