COVID-19 Disrupts Lives of Bollywood's Background Dancers; Saroj Khan Plans on helping them!

The coronavirus scare has led the Bollywood on a complete shutdown resulting in the suspension of shoots till March 31. However, the suspension has also put a hole in the background dancers' pockets forcing them to return to their hometowns...

Background Dancers

The coronavirus pandemic has had a massive impact on the entertainment industry and the shoots for the on-going projects are suspended till March 31. Bollywood is suffering from a major financial crunch and it has inversely affected the daily wage workers of the industry. While the relief fund was already brought in action today, there seem to be no superficial changes amid the COVID-19 outbreak. 

The nationwide shutdown has also caused an economic slowdown with daily wage workers being hit the hardest and even as the Producers' Guild and the Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees (FWICE) have come to their aid, the community is still struggling to make ends meet.

While the shutdown was reportedly a precautionary measure, the background dancers - due to lack of work, are returning to their hometowns. 

A report in Mid-day quoted Zahid Shaikh - the president of the Cine Dancers' Association (CDA) comprises of 900 background dancers. Talking about the background dancer’s skint, he said, "Shoots won't start anytime soon. We are grateful to the FWICE for providing groceries at such times.”

He further pointed out how the government has asked to avoid unnecessary travel, yet a number of dancers have left for their hometown.

"Many dancers have left for their hometown because it is difficult to survive in Mumbai without work. They have to pay rent, electricity and mobile bills, and it is not easy to meet these demands [without the regular flow of income]. Some left without informing us, only dropping a message with their account details in it,” added Zahid.

Revealing that the artists take home Rs 4,500 for a 12-hour shift, Shaikh said that six songs were supposed to be shot between March 14 and the first week of April, thus providing a steady source of income to them.

"We were to film a song for Brahmastra on March 26; it has now been pushed to April 6. We were also rehearsing for a track for Prithviraj [which got postponed]. Our last shoot was on March 13 with Vaibhavi Merchant." Shaikh is trying to recover the payments for their previous shoots.

The report further added that veteran choreographer and CDA brand ambassador Saroj Khan has agreed to help them and anybody else suffering from financial loss in the industry. 

I will try my best to help them out. Everybody in the film industry is suffering a huge loss, but it is great that FWICE has taken an initiative.

- Saroj Khan

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