Tollywood -- the Telugu film industry, has announced that it was cancelling all cinema shootings from Monday as a precautionary measure against the spread of COVID-19.
The announcement was made after the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce, Telugu Film Producers Council and Movie Artists Association (MAA) held a meeting together and unanimously agreed to postpone their shootings, Telugu Film Chamber president Narayandas K Narang said on Sunday.
Addressing the media in Hyderabad, Telugu Film Chamber Secretary KL Damodar Prasad said that they have cancelled all the shootings as per the Telangana government’s directive.
“Presently, as all cinema halls have been shut down till March 21, the shootings are also cancelled during this period, until further instructions from the government.”
The state government on Saturday announced a ban and regulations against public gatherings and issued a Government Order to that effect.
As per the order, cinema halls, pubs, bars, swimming pools, museums, indoor and outdoor stadiums for a week (till March 21), while schools, including coaching centres, will remain closed until March 31.
As soon as Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao made the announcement, Megastar actor Chiranjeevi suspended the shooting of his upcoming film Acharya, which is being directed by Koratala Siva.
In a statement to the producers before they called for a meeting, Chiranjeevi wrote to them and appealed, “This is everyone’s responsibility. I request all the producers to postpone the shootings for another 10 to 15 days since shootings require manpower of 100 to 200 people. Avoiding large-scale gatherings is important to contain the spread of coronavirus.”
Speaking at the event on Sunday, actor Banerjee said, “Coronavirus is spreading at a rapid pace, and since the government has taken a decision to contain it by advising against public gatherings, we are respecting their decision. In shootings, we'll have more than 100 people, so there's a possibility of the disease spreading. Hence, we cancelled the shootings.”
“Cinema theatres and shootings are interlinked, so as long as cinema theatres will remain closed, we will too stop the shootings until then,” said C Kalyan, president of Telugu Film Producers Council.
He added, “Although some producers are inconvenienced by this decision. The decision to cancel the shooting is not to bother them, but as a safety measure.”