Tanusri Dasgupta speaks about how Balaji Telefilms will go back on the sets

The entertainment industry suffered a lot due to the Covid-19 lockdown and pandemic. From shootings halted to shows going off-air and movie releases being postponed, this year was not good for the industry. But now, the government has issued a new set of guidelines which need to be followed before the shooting commences. 

 Tanusri Dasgupta, the Executive Vice President of Balaji Telefilms, says they are already in the prepping stage and will begin shooting with a smaller crew, fewer actors in a frame while maintaining social-distancing. 

 "We are actually in the prepping stage now since the time we got permission to go on-floor. We will be working with a much smaller crew than we ever have. So less output for sure. Television in the past years has seen some great production scale and we have pushed all boundaries. Most of those have to be scaled down or one has to find alternative ways to achieve glamour shots she said. 

 "We are talking simpler visuals with social distancing, lesser actors per frame, less complicated sequences, no physical contact. We are talking simpler narratives which are easier to execute like we did in the early days of ‘Shanti’ and ‘Swabhimaan’. It has to begin on paper first. In a way it’s exciting because content will really be king then," she added. 

 Tanusri and her team are hoping to go on floors by the end of the month and will start shooting for all the shows at the same time. But what precautions are they going to take? "There is a 16-page document, which are the SOPs, that has come in from government and Balaji is implementing all those SOPs as rules on the sets, like sanitization of set thrice a day, changing of masks every three-to-four hour, temperature checks, providing gloves to everybody, there is a nurse on-call and social distancing will be maintained."