Shootings for Telugu films and television serials are likely to resume soon in Telangana, but the chances of theatres and multiplexes reopening are bleak at least in the near future.
This was made clear by Telangana minister for cinematography Talasani Srinivasa Yadav after meeting a delegation of Telugu film industry representatives at the residence of popular actor and former Union minister K Chiranjeevi on Thursday.
Yadav told reporters later that the state government would take a decision shortly on resumption of shootings for movies and television serials in the wake of uncertainty in continuing the lockdown to prevent spread of Covid-19.
“However, there is no restrictions on taking up post-production works even during the lockdown period. The representatives of the film industry requested that the shootings be allowed, while strictly following the Covid-19 norms like maintenance of physical distancing and sanitation,” the minister said.
The industry delegation told the minister that a demonstration video on how indoor and outdoor shootings could resume, highlighting precautionary measures to be taken by the film cast and crew, including physical distancing, using sanitizers and face masks, would soon be submitted to the state government.
“The delegation wants a meeting to be arranged with chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. 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.
{{/usCountry}}“The delegation wants a meeting to be arranged with chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. 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.
{{/usCountry}}The minister discussed with the delegation on the impact of lockdown on cinema workers, including 14,000-odd daily wage workers. He said the state government, too, was positive about supporting the families of cinema workers.
Apart from Chiranjeevi, other Telugu film personalities including D Suresh Babu, Allu Aravind, C. Kalyan, Akkineni Nagarjuna, Dil Raju, Gemini Kiran, Shyam Prasad Reddy, SS Rajamouli, VV Vinayak, Trivikram Srinivas, N Shankar, Koratala Siva, N Shankar and Ram Mohan Rao, were part of the delegation that met the cinematography minister.