Recently, the Tamil Nadu government allowed the resumption of post-production activities for the Tamil film industry following which shooting was permitted for television and the big screen. Crews had to strictly adhere to safety protocols and sanitise all studios and sets they were working in.
Read: Tamil Nadu Government To Allow Resumption Of Post-Production Activities From May 11
On Monday evening, the Tamil Nadu government announced that a strict lockdown, much like the first one, will be imposed from June 19, 12 am until July 1, 12 am to curb the increasing numbers of coronavirus positive patients in the city of Chennai, and the Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur, and Chengalpet districts with an exception for essential services.
Owing to the announcement, the Film Employees’ Federation of South India (FEFSI), headed by RK Selvamani, has announced that all production activities for small screen and post-production activities for the film industry will be temporarily suspended for a period of 12 days, from June 19 to June 30.
ஜூன் 19 முதல் 30 வரை சின்னத்திரை படப்பிடிப்புகள் நிறுத்தி வைப்பு – ஆர்.கே. செல்வமணி அறிவிப்பு#RKSelvamani pic.twitter.com/z3ZESZCxVn
— Thanthi TV (@ThanthiTV) June 16, 2020
In addition to this, FEFSI also thanked the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Edapadi K Palaniswami, for offering daily wagers of the film industry residing in the city of Chennai, and the Kancheepuram, Thiruvallur, and Chengalpet districts a sum of Rs. 1000 for the third time, owing to the three-month lockdown.
The federation mentioned that they have been appealing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Tamil Nadu BJP head L Murugan for more than three months, requesting them to provide some form of relief to the film industry, film workers and technicians but have received no response at all causing them grief.
“While the state government has provided relief thrice to all workers without any discrimination, the central government’s lack of action is gutting,” read the statement.
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They also expressed their displeasure at how the central government had allocated a fund of 20 lakh crores for all businesses to bounce back to normalcy leaving out the film industry and its workers. The statement ended by requesting the central government to help them out and also asking people to conform with all rules and regulations laid down by the government.
Meanwhile, the Kerala government has allowed the resumption of shooting for films in the state. With a maximum crew limit of 50 members, shooting is permitted only indoors while necessarily conforming to safety and hygiene measures. Amongst other films, Jean Paul Lal’s Tsunami starring his father-actor-director Lal commenced work on Monday.