While the entertainment industry has come to a standstill in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, Bollywood producers are busy trying to register movie titles with the word ‘corona’. Eros International has already registered the title Corona Pyaar Hai, TOI reported. The title is certainly a funny twist to Hrithik Roshan’s superhit debut Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai. According to the report, the script of the film is being fine-tuned now.
IMPPA (Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association) also told TOI that they have witnessed film producers rushing in to register corona based film titles.
This is not the first time Bollywood filmmakers and producers have rushed to register titles that piggy-bank on the newsy keywords. For instance, after India’s surgical strike last year and the Pulwama attack in which 49 CRPF jawans were killed, there was a rush to register titles with ‘Balakot’, ‘Pulwama’ and ‘Surgical Strike’. The success of patriotic films like Vicky Kaushal’s Uri: The Surgical Strike has only increased the demand for such films.
A similar rush was also witnessed after the Centre revoked Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. According to reports, there was a demand to register titles like Article 370, Kashmir Hamara Hai and so on.
To contain the spread of novel coronavirus, film bodies in India including Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees (FWICE) and Indian Film & Television Directors’ Association (IFTDA) on Sunday decided to put shootings of films, TV shows and web series on hold from March 19 to March 31.
The pandemic has led to the cancellation of various events, award functions, interviews and shooting schedules. Actor Shahid Kapoor announced that the team of his upcoming film Jersey has decided to suspend the shoot of the film to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Yash Raj Films also delayed the release of Dibakar Banerjee-directed Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar. Akshay Kumar-starrer Sooryavanshi has been pushed indefinitely and Tillotama Shome’s film Sir has been postponed.
The number of novel coronavirus cases in the country rose to 125 on Tuesday after fresh cases were reported from several states. On Tuesday, India reported its third coronavirus death—a 64-year-old man in Mumbai. The man who had reportedly returned from Dubai had tested positive and was admitted at Kasturba Hospital.