Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on 20th May asked the entertainment industry to prepare an action plan for limited resumption of shooting and post-production activities. He said, social distancing norms will have to be strictly adhered to. He ruled out the reopening of cinemas in the state as yet.
Thackeray said, since many businesses had resumed in the state except in the containment zones, so could film and television activities if done in a planned manner. All shooting and post-production work came to a halt from mid-March just before the lockdown started in India. A delegation of the entertainment industry especially producers and artistes of the Marathi film, theatre and TV industry, met the CM via video conferencing. The delegation told the chief minister that the government should save single-screen cinemas, help poor music composers and waive GST on film production activities in view of the heavy losses faced by the entertainment industry during the coronavirus lockdown. Thackeray informed that his government would consider providing rent concessions to producers who have sets standing erected at the government-owned Film City in Bombay since March. Thackeray also said, the state government would stand firmly with technicians, backstage artistes, workers, folk artistes and tamasha performers in the lockdown crisis.