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Tag: Ashoke Pandit

  • Film, TV directors’ association requests Maharashtra govt for changes in shooting guidelines

    Film, TV directors’ association requests Maharashtra govt for changes in shooting guidelines

    MUMBAI: The Indian Film & Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) has sent a letter to the Maharashtra government seeking the removal of certain clauses in the guidelines for resuming shooting of films, OTT shows, and television serials as they are difficult to be adhered to. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray recently permitted the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) to resume shooting only if these guidelines and SOPs are followed strictly.

    IFTDA president Ashoke Pandit wrote, “We are glad to note that each and every point that we had presented and discussed in the above meeting has been considered and implemented in the GR released by the government. All the clauses that are mentioned in the GR are in line with the requirements raised by the stakeholders of the Industry. However, we would like to request you to please revisit two clauses mentioned in the GR.”

    One major concern is that any person above 65 years of age will not be allowed to work on the set. This category includes prominent actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Paresh Rawal, Annu Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Dharmendra, Shakti Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty, Pankaj Kapur, Jackie Shroff, Danny Denzongpa, Dalip Tahil, Tinnu Anand, Rakesh Bedi, Kabir Bedi and others. It also has legendary directors, filmmakers and writers like Anil Sharma, David Dhawan, Subhash Ghai, Shyam Benegal, Mani Ratnam and Prakash Jha.

    According to Pandit, this clause is impractical since it would restrict some of the great luminaries of the industry.

    Another major concern highlighted by Pandit is the availability of doctors and nurses stationed at each shooting premises.

    The letter notes that Maharashtra is already facing issues due to non-availability of the doctors and nurses to cope with the increased number of patients from the Covid2019 pandemic and therefore it is not practical to have a doctor and nurse to be stationed at each shooting premise.

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  • Stakeholders meet Maharashtra state official on shooting SOP

    Stakeholders meet Maharashtra state official on shooting SOP

    MUMBAI: Major stakeholders of the media and entertainment industry attended a zoom meeting with Maharashtra state cultural affairs secretary Sanjay Mukherjee on 28 May and talked about SOPs for production resumption.

    The meeting was truly encouraging and there were a lot of fruitful co,nclusions regarding the future of the entertainment Industry, said a press release by Federation of Western India Cine Employees.

    In the zoom meeting, The Producers Guild of India was represented by Apoorva Mehta and Madhu Bhojwani. Federation of Western India Cine Employess (FWICE) was represented by Ashoke Pandit chief advisor, B N Tiwari, president, and Ashok Dubey, general secretary. Indian Motion Pictures Producer's Association (IMPPA) was represented by T P Aggarwal.

    Western India Film Producer's Association (WIFPA) was represented by Sangram Shirke and Dharam Mehra. Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal (MCM) was represented by its president Meghraj Bhosale. Aadesh Bandekar also attended the meeting.

    The following points were discussed in the meeting:

    1. Post-production activities should immediately start in line with all the health, safety and security norms and guidelines issued by the government.

    2. A proper financial package has to be worked out by the state government to facilitate the entertainment industry.

    3. State government should call for all the insurance companies to come up with new ideas for designing suitable policies for the members of the entertainment industry to cope with the Covid2019 disease.

    4. Premises owned by the state government should be given free of cost to the producers and the production houses for carrying out shoots along with a facility of single window permission.

    5. There should be no rental on sets that are erected in the Film City which are lying unused due to the lockdown. After the lockdown, the premises in Film City should be given to producers and production houses at subsidised rate so as to cope with the losses incurred due to the lockdown.

    6. Chief secretary Sanjay Mukherjee will review the SOPs already submitted by the stakeholders and present to the government.

  • Film artists and intellectuals march to Rashtrapati Bhavan, decry charges of India becoming intolerant

    Film artists and intellectuals march to Rashtrapati Bhavan, decry charges of India becoming intolerant

    New Delhi, 7 November: A large number of filmmakes, intellectuals and artists led by vetran actor Anupam Kher – who had earlier questioned the logic of returning awards – today marched in Rajpath to Rashtrapati Bhavan to counter the protests by those who have been alleging “rising intolerance”.

     

    Kher said the “award-wapsi” campaign was to defame the country by projecting a “wrong” picture of the situation.

    A small delegation which also included Madhur Bhandarkar and some others presented a memorandum in this regard at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also meeting a small delegation this evening from amongst those who came for the march.

     

    “India is a very tolerant country. Some people have coined the term ‘growing intolerance’. They are very few. Not every Indian thinks like that. We are secular people. We do not believe in pseudo-secularism, selective outrage or selective patriotism,” Kher, whose wife Kirron is a Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament. 

     

    “We had a meeting with a lot of writers, artistes, filmmakers and they also believe that there is no intolerance in the country… This march is a symbolic gesture on part of a lot of people over here who say India is one and free of intolerance,” the 60-year-old said.

     

    Many filmmakers and artistes from the fraternity including Madhur Bhandarkar, Ashoke Pandit, Priyadarshan, Manoj Joshi, Abhijeet Bhattacharya, actor-director Bijoya Jena and writer Madhu Kishwar joined the march to hand over a memorandum signed by more than 40 personalities including actress Raveena Tandon.

     

    Bhandarkar, a National Award winner, alleged that those involved in the protest over intolerance had opposed Prime Minister Narendra Modi before he was elected, which raised questions about their intention.

     

    Kher asserted that they were not associated with any organisation or political party. “This march is led by Indians and for Indians.”

     

    Film-maker Priyadarshan said the act of returning the awards is “childish”. He said these people should use the power of pen. Instances of intolerance have always been there. It is not something that happened yesterday. 

     

    Shah Rukh Khan never said he is returning his award, Priyadarshan said, but he said he disapproved of those critical of Khan who had said that there was extreme intolerance in the country.

    The march also saw some disgruntled voices. Some National Award winning filmmakers and actresses who did not want to be named told indiantelevision.com that tjey felt let down because it was initially meant to be a march of ntellectual National Award Winners and not an Anupam Kher march.

     

     

    At least 75 members of the intelligentsia have returned national or literary awards in an escalation of protests by writers, historians, filmmakers and scientists over “growing intolerance”, voicing fears that the country’s robust democracy might be “coming apart” in the current atmosphere.

     

    The BJP-led government has dismissed the protest as “manufactured rebellion” and “politically” motivated.

    “Nobody has the right to call our country intolerant. We are secular people and don’t believe in selective outrage,” Mr Kher said this morning. “I have right to go to the President and say that we don’t feel India is intolerant. These talks can’t happen only on twitter/ Facebook, they need a personal presence,” the actor has said.

     

    The march follows the decision of a host of filmmakers, including Dibakar Banerjee and Anand Patwardhan, as well as writers and historians to raise voice against the rising intolerance under the BJP-led government and to return various government awards and honors.