From personal life to professional commitments, everything has been affected due to coronavirus outbreak. Due to production shutdown, the daily wage earners have been affected the most. In order to support them, the Producers Guild of India even decided to setup a relief fund. Several celebs have come forward to donate for this cause and help the daily wage workers for their livelihood. Even the background dancers have been affected due to lack of work after COVID-19 outbreak. Several shoots had to be called off until further notice. Coronavirus Outbreak: Made in Heaven Season 2 Shoot Gets Postponed.

In an interview to a leading tabloid, the head of Cine Dancers’ Association has revealed how the background dancers are facing a tough time to survive in Mumbai without any income, after the shoots had to be suspended. Zahid Shaikh, the president of Cine Dancers’ Association, stated that some of the background dancers returned to their hometown as right now they do not have a regular flow of income to meet their requirements. He also revealed about how they were supposed to shoot for a song for Brahmastra on March 26, but even that has been postponed now.

Zahid Shaikh revealed to Mid-Day that six songs were supposed to be shot between March 14 and the first week of April and that would have provided the background dancers an income. He stated, “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.” Acharya: Shooting of Megastar Chiranjeevi's Film Gets Stalled Due to Coronavirus Outbreak.

Zahid Shaikh also shared that these dancers earn Rs 4500 for a 12-hour shift. He was further quoted as saying, “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 (Akshay Kumar starrer that got postponed). Our last shoot was on March 13 with Vaibhavi Merchant.” Besides the Producers Guild of India, even the Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees have come to the aid of daily wage workers. “Shoots won’t start anytime soon. We are grateful to the FWICE for providing groceries in such times,” said Shaikh.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 20, 2020 09:37 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).