The
nationwide
lockdown
owing
to
the
COVID-19
pandemic
has
brought
many
working
sectors
to
a
standstill.
With
film
shootings
being
halted
and
no
movie
screenings
in
cinema
halls,
the
film
industry
is
also
facing
the
brunt
of
this
outbreak.
Meanwhile,
our
Bollywood
celebrities
are
doing
their
bit
to
help
those
heavily
affected
by
COVID-19
pandemic.
The
latest
we
hear
is,
Akshay
Kumar
has
offered
financial
help
to
the
owner
of
Mumbai's
iconic
single
screen
theatre,
Gaiety-Galaxy
to
pay
his
staff
amid
the
lockdown.
As
per
a
Mid-day
report,
Manoj
Desai,
owner
of
the
Mumbai
cinema
hall,
had
to
take
a
bank
loan
to
provide
salaries
to
his
employees
amid
the
Novel
Coronavirus
lockdown.
On
reading
about
it,
in
a
previous
report
of
the
same
paper,
Akshay
called
them
and
offered
financial
assistance.
Speaking
about
it,
Manoj
Desai
told
Mid-day,
"Three
days
ago,
I
got
a
call
from
Akshayji.
He
offered
to
provide
financial
assistance
if
the
scenario
continues.
It
was
kind
of
him
to
offer
help,
but
we
should
find
a
way
to
sustain
ourselves.
We
have
managed
to
collect
enough
funds
to
pay
the
salaries
for
this
month,
but
the
theatre
shutdown
will
have
long-term
ramifications.
Our
focus
is
to
ensure
we
don't
trim
staff
or
resort
to
pay
cuts."
He
said
that
they
would
incur
heavy
losses
when
the
lockdown
ends
in
early
May.
After
two
weeks
of
lockdown,
Manoj
and
business
partner
Arun
Nair
had
decided
to
increase
the
ticket
prices
as
soon
as
the
cinemas
re-opened.
However,
after
the
lockdown
extension,
recovering
from
a
45-day
period,
is
going
to
be
tough
for
them.
"I
will
head
to
Gaiety
and
Maratha
Mandir
today
to
finalise
our
plan
of
action
for
May.
We
are
reworking
our
plans
to
ensure
that
we
don't
have
to
seek
support
from
the
industry
folk," he
further
told
the
tabloid.
Akshay
Kumar's
Sooryavanshi
was
supposed
to
release
on
March
24.
However,
the
film
got
postponed
owing
to
the
COVID-19
pandemic.
Meanwhile,
the
superstar
was
one
of
the
most
celebrities
who
donated
to
PM-CARES
fund.
He
donated
Rs
25
crore
to
the
emergency
fund
for
COVID-19
relief.
Recently,
he
also
contributed
Rs
3
crore
to
the
BMC,
to
provide
personal
protective
equipments,
masks
and
rapid-testing
kits
for
healthcare
and
municipal
workers.