India's Bollywood cuts kissing scenes, epic dance routines under new coronavirus rules

As Bollywood resumes shooting in the next few weeks based on coronavirus guidelines issued by the Producers Guild of India, the Hindi film industry is bracing itself for a new world with little of the old razzamatazz.

Filming will be lean and sparse to prevent Covid-19 infections. Forget the epic song-and-dance routines or the opulent wedding scenes filled with thronging crowds. Think string quartet rather than an orchestra.

There will also be no handshakes or hugging or kissing on set.

The Guild's strict guidelines for the industry, which employs some 300,000 workers, is linked to the fact that Mumbai, home of Bollywood, has been engulfed by the pandemic with some 42,000 infections.

Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra, India's worst-affected state, which has 75,000 coronavirus cases, accounting for more than one-third of the country's total.

Having lost billions of rupees over the past three months, the world's second largest film industry is eager to return to work. Movies, along with cricket, are India's two greatest pastimes. But the eagerness is combined with anxiety, as it is all over the country as the lockdown rules are gradually relaxed.

No one expects the industry, which generates US$2.28 billion a year, to start churning out the 2,000 films per year that used to be the norm. But some shooting will start and when it does, the crazy and chaotic scenes that once characterised life on a set will not be allowed.

Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan. File photo: AFP alt=Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan. File photo: AFP

No actor above the age of 65 will be allowed to film. That rules out top actors such as Amitabh Bachchan, 77, and Shabana Azmi, 69, to name only two. Plenty of legendary directors are also 65 and above.

"Lots of other actors also come to mind. Also, some films have been partially or substantially shot with actors over 65. Casting younger actors to reshoot may not be financially viable," said one director who did not want to be named.

Among other rules, no audience scenes will be allowed. Only a third of the crew will be allowed on set at any given time. In stories about families, casting directors will have to try to find real families to minimise contact among strangers.

Actors will have to do their make-up at home. If that's not possible, it will be applied on set by make-up artists wearing protective clothing. Costumes will be fitted at the actors' homes. No food will be allowed on set.

All this is in addition to the usual social distancing, constant sanitisation, and masks. And all this assumes that actors and top stars will be prepared to leave the safety of their homes to join sets where some 50-100 people may be present.

Bosco Martis, an award-winning choreographer who specialises in large-scale dance sequences, said he preferred to wait until the city had contained the virus before returning to work.

"I want to see if the rules are being followed on set first and then decide," Martis said. "I am also exploring if I can work with only one or two persons directly on the set, but use special effects to create a crowd for the sequence."

Film producer Nitin Tej Ahuja, while welcoming the rules as thoughtful and comprehensive, was concerned about their feasibility. How was social-distancing possible for scenes requiring actors to be in close proximity? What about camera attendants holding heavy equipment or a make-up artist applying make-up?

"While some of the rules may work in a closed indoor set, it's difficult to sanitise outdoor locations. In some films, you may be able to rewrite outdoor scenes to be shot indoors, but not in every situation and some outdoor scenes may be critical to the narrative," Ahuja said.

He also pointed out that film shoots were not just about celebrities and senior crew members who lived in affluent and safe environments.

"The set boys, for example, live in more congested and vulnerable areas," Ahuja said. "I wonder how comfortable actors will be at the perception of increased exposure?"

A scene from Bollywood musical comedy Om Shanti Om. Photo: Handout alt=A scene from Bollywood musical comedy Om Shanti Om. Photo: Handout

Meanwhile, some film buffs are predicting that the absence of intimacy dictated by social distancing will bring Bollywood back to the era when movies portrayed love and sex with coyness and euphemism.

Although modern Bollywood films have been showing kissing for years, it was taboo for decades. When a couple got close, the camera used to pan to images of flowers or a bee sucking nectar from a flower.

So films may revert to past norms. Until a vaccine comes.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.