Exit of Shamili Sukumar from Roja ,the number one TV soap on Sun TV, has exposed the clandestine shooting of Tamil serials that are going on during Lock Down period and trade unions publicly stating that the members will not work till the curbs are eased but looking the other way.
Shamily plays the female villain in Roja which has being the topper of all soaps. She said that she was pregnant and as there was medical advice to not take part in the shoots as it may expose her and baby to infection from corona virus, she decided to back off. At present many doctors are not for vaccinating pregnant mothers.
The previous lockdown in March 2020, saw many seials go in for repeats. This time however the shoots are going on in full swing and there is no repeats. To save on footage, some serials are running the full opening title song and fill up four minutes of telecast time. The shoots are going on in private bungalows along ECR and road to Puduchery. Sources said that except for makeup - camera department, all others have been done away with. As much as possible combination shots are avoided.
In some cases, channels have converted their offices into shooting floors and shooting floors used for shows to shoot TV soaps. A leading production house that owns a film studio in the outskirts of the city has made full use of it to shoot soaps for its channel ( non Tamil).
FEFSI, apex body of film trade unions is sitting quietly as they cannot stop work and appear to be anti- worker. When the total; lock down was announced, FEFSI got a reprove from CM to allow 16 TV shoots going on the floors to work. DMK has its own channel Kalaignar and Marans owned Sun TV. Later, a surprise check on sets of Bigg Boss Malayalam showed that 6 of the 25 tested were found positive. Instances were the same in many TV sets. FEFSI publicly withdrawal of its members from working.
Post production studios that were closed during last year lockdown have not been affected. Dubbing and many other technical works are on. Some small time film units have managed to get permission saying that they were shooting corona awareness film.
It will be a bonanza time says a film worker as many Hindi TV serial producers have evinced interest in shooting in Chennai after they found that the present DMK ministry is pro cinema- TV and turned a blind eye to the shootings during lock down. Hindi soaps did shift to Gujarat and other areas in North where there is no lock down. They found that the manpower and equipment available was not update and workers unprofessional in acritude.
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