Allow post-production work; film industry worker's union appeals to Maharashtra CM

The film industry has been one of the hardest hit due to the pandemic. Everything has come to a standstill at every step of the way, therefore the uncertainty of the lockdown and the pandemic looms. While the industry has drawn to a halt, many bodies are hoping to get something moving in the pipeline.

FWICE has now issued a letter to the Maharashtra CM asking for permission to restart post-production work on films. This will help the technicians and the numerous projects that have been put under indefinite hold.

FWICE writes to Maharashtra CM seeking permission for post-production work

Maharashtra has been one of the worst-hit states by the pandemic. The state reports the highest number of positive cases of Coronavirus among all the states in the country. Therefore even as lockdown restrictions lift around the country Maharashtra is still a high-risk zone. 

Mumbai, however, is home to Bollywood as an industry, which has been badly hit by the pandemic. New film releases have been shelved, movie shooting has stopped, and guidelines are still being drawn up. This means the industry will be incurring huge losses should the crisis continue.

As the fraternity combats the crisis, FWICE the Federation of Western India Cine Employees wrote to the Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thakeray hoping to resume post-production work which has been on hold since the pandemic hit India. The body is worried about its workers and the sustainability of the shut down of work in the coming future.

The letter read:

With reference to the subject matter, we would like to bring to your kind notice that there are numerous projects of the media and entertainment industry which are halted due to lockdown and can be completed soon as only the post-production activities such as editing, sound recording, music recording and others are pending. If permissions are given to carry out such post-production activities of these projects, which can be done in closed studios with minimum workforce, it would be a great relief to the producers who have poured in huge funds and that they shall be all set to release their projects immediately after the lockdown is lifted.

The letter assured that the body would follow guidelines and ensure the health and safety of all their workers. FWICE, the union of film industry workers has over 500,000 members as of 2020. Now, however, the future is uncertain. The body has not yet received a reply from CM Uddhav Thackeray.