Veteran Actress B Saroja Devi has contributed Rs Five Lakhs as donation to Chief Minister's Relief Fund to combat the corona pandemic.

B Sarojadevi is one of the most successful female leads in the history of Indian cinema and in her six decades she acted in more than 200 films. She has received the Padmasri, the fourth highesh civilian honour in 1969 and after that she has been conferred the Padmabhushan in 1992 from the Government of India

With nationwide lockdown until April 14 to fight against the spread of Coronavirus, all film related activities across the country have come to a complete halt. While all sections of the industry is badly hit including the film workers, it is the exhibitors who are facing the maximum heat with huge losses incurred by them.

According to the Karnataka Film Exhibitors Association president KV Chandrashekar there are nearly 600 single screen theatres in Karnataka in which around 13,000 employees work on daily basis in shifts with an monthly expenditure costing upto Rs. 15.50 crores per month.

India Under Total Lockdown for 21 Days!

Speaking to Chitraloka, Veeresh theatre owner Mr. K V Chandrashekar said, "For example, in our Veeresh theater, 20 people each work in two shifts which makes it to 40 in a day. In other theaters like Kapali, there were about 75 employees at one time. Altogether there are nearly 600 theaters in the State."

He goes on to add that whether the theater is operational or not, one has to shell out Rs. 15.50 crores per month for the employees alone as salaries and to their other facilities. 

"In single theaters, the minimum salary of an employee is Rs 10,000, which cannot be paid in cash and it also includes payment such as PF and ESI, all of which amounts to Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 13,000/- per month. By taking into account the above, the exhibitors in the State have to pay at least Rs. 15.50 crs per month," he adds.

That's not all, exhibitors also have to pay for electricity, water, maintenance and other miscellaneous charges. "The minimum electricity bill would be Rs. 10,000, and water charges will also be Rs 10,000 per month if theatres are facilitated with sanitary connection." We have not taken the count of Parking, Canteen persons to the account.

On an average, the overall expenditure for exhibitors in the State would come around Rs 27.50 crores per month. This figure excludes multiplexes. Anybody can imagine how much theater persons have to suffer in the country when there are 11,500 single screen theater in India. here are he signs off.

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India Under Total Lockdown for 21 Days!

After the State Government gave its green signal allowing shooting of television serials with certain conditions along with easing restrictions to other sectors in lockdown 4.0, a delegation led by Karnataka Film Academy chairman Suneel Puranik including president of Karnataka Film Chamber Of Commerce Jairaj, KFCC former president Sa Ra Govindu met Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, pleading with representation to allow film shooting in the lockdown 5.0 (According to Cinema Industry in Karnataka this will be 6.0).

The delegation also included noted producer K Manju, M N Suresh, A Ganesh, Umesh Banakar, President of the Producers Association Praveen Kumar and others.

"We have given a representation to the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to allow filming with limited crew once the lockdown 4.0 ends. We are hopeful after Yediyurappa has assured that he will look into it," says Mr. Suneel Puranik.

He goes onto add that Kannada film industry has suffered a loss of around Rs 500 crore due to lockdown. "More than fifty films have stopped with many of them left with just the shooting of songs and climax scenes to wrap up the shooting process. We have also assured that safety norms such as wearing of masks, and limiting crew during shooting will be followed," he said.

Also, the delegation urged the chief minister to allow operation of single screen theatres with certain conditions while the centre government decides on the fate of multiplexes.

The delegation also thanked the State Government for providing food item coupons worth over Rs 2 crore to various sectors of the Kannada film industry. The team also said that it has been requested to increase the ticket fare by Rs 5 so as to utilise the same for the producers welfare trust.

ಸರ್ಜಾ ಕುಟುಂಬಕ್ಕೆ ಕೋವಿಡ್ 19 ಬಿಟ್ಟೂ ಬಿಡದೆ ಕಾಡುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಮೊದಲಿಗೆ ಧ್ರುವ ಸರ್ಜಾ ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರೇರಣಾ ಸರ್ಜಾ ಅವರಿಗೆ ಕೋವಿಡ್ 19 ಪಾಸಿಟಿವ್ ಬಂದಿತ್ತು. ಚೈನೀಸ್ ವೈರಸ್ ಸೋಂಕಿನಿಂದಾಗಿ ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆ ಸೇರಿದ್ದ ಧ್ರುವ-ಪ್ರೇರಣಾ, ಮತ್ತೆ ಮನೆಗೆ ವಾಪಸ್ ಆಗಿ ಹೋಂ ಕ್ವಾರಂಟೈನ್‍ನಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಹೀಗಿರುವಾಗಲೇ ಅರ್ಜುನ್ ಸರ್ಜಾ ಪುತ್ರಿ ಐಶ್ವರ್ಯಾ ಸರ್ಜಾ ಅವರಿಗೂ ಪಾಸಿಟಿವ್ ರಿಪೋರ್ಟ್ ಬಂದಿದೆ.

ಐಶ್ವರ್ಯಾಗೆ ಪಾಸಿಟಿವ್ ಬಂದಿದೆ. ಅವರಿಗೆ ಯಾವುದೇ ಸೋಂಕಿನ ಲಕ್ಷಣಗಳು ಇರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಪಾಸಿಟಿವ್ ಬಂದಿದೆ. ಹೋಮ್ ಕ್ವಾರಂಟೈನ್‍ನಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಾರೆ. ಅವರಿಗೆ ಎಲ್ಲ ರೀತಿಯ ಮೆಡಿಕಲ್ ಸೌಲಭ್ಯವನ್ನೂ ಒದಗಿಸಲಾಗುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಶೀಘ್ರದಲ್ಲೇ ಚೇತರಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಾರೆ ಎಂದಿದ್ದಾರೆ ಅರ್ಜುನ್ ಸರ್ಜಾ.

ಧ್ರುವ ಸರ್ಜಾ ಮತ್ತು ಪ್ರೇರಣಾ ಸರ್ಜಾ ಕೂಡಾ ಚೇತರಿಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದು, ಶೀಘ್ರದಲ್ಲೇ ಗುಣಮುಖರಾಗಲಿದ್ದಾರೆ.