MUMBAI: Shooting of films and television serials will soon resume in Maharashtra after the state government on Sunday gave the green signal to the industry.

The state government has issued ‘guiding principles to restart media and entertainment industry in Maharashtra.’ They contain elaborate guidelines and instructions to be followed during the course of shooting of films, TV/OTT series.  

The department of cultural affairs has issued the ruling in this regard. Producers can now carry out pre- and post-production activities in accordance with the guidelines stipulated by the government.

The government decision has energized the industry which has been remaining dormant ever since the lockdown was imposed.

An elated Indian Film & TV Producers Council chairman (TV division) J Majethia told Indiantelevision.com that all the producers will meet on Monday and decide the next course of action.

He said that this came so fast within a few days of the industry stakeholders’ approaching the state government for a favourable decision.

“Producers will meet and discuss tomorrow. Then we will have to discuss with broadcasters, because they have to apply for permission. Once we start, we cannot stop as we have to have a bank of episodes as per schedules. We need two or three days to decide on when to resume shooting,” said Majethia.

“On behalf of the industry, we cannot thank chief minister Uddhav Thackeray enough. He has been very supportive in all our efforts. The day when we met, he was sounding very positive. He asked us to submit SOPs and everything worked so fast,” he said.    

“If we want to shoot in Mumbai Film City or outside Mumbai, the respective district collector will give permission,” he added.  

Last week, the chief minister interacted with the stakeholders from the industry via zoom conferencing call and assured them all support to resume production activities in the state.