MUMBAI: The coronavirus pandemic has brought everything to a standstill. It affected many industries across the world. While some countries have finally resumed to their normal routine; some are still struggling with this pandemic, incurring losses in terms of money as well as lives. One of the industries’ to get affected during this pandemic is the entertainment industry. In India where many individuals earn their livelihood by working on and off-screen, are facing some severe financial crunch as all the shoots have come to a halt, with no certain date for it to resume. 

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Now as per reports in Times of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has been asked the showmakers/producers to clear the pending payments of cast and crew working with the production houses dated till March 2020. These instructions were communicated to the respective production houses via a letter from the I&B Ministry on Friday. The letter read, "Broadcasters and producers of TV serials may take a compassionate view and ensure that all payments due to such persons up to March 2020 are cleared at the earliest.” 

The letter also mentioned, “The pandemic of COVID-19 has led to a financial downturn for a large number of sectors of the economy. However, equally important is the livelihoods of the employees who are working in this sector, including a large number of modestly paid TV artistes engaged for the production of various TV serials. While services of such persons were taken, some of them may not have received their remuneration.” 

Many shows like Naagin 4, Beyhadh 2 and more have currently gone off air abruptly due to the lockdown, while few makers are planning to wrap up the shows by giving proper closure post the lockdown is called off. 

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CREDITS: SPOTBOYE