The show goes on elsewhere! Television shows shift shooting base outside Maharashtra

Juhi Parmar in Good News (right) Swati Kapoor, Sanjay Gagnani, Ruhi Chaturvedi and Shraddha Arya

On Thursday, the cast of Kundali Bhagya, including Swati Kapoor, Sanjay Gagnani, Ruhi Chaturvedi and Shraddha Arya, was spotted at Mumbai airport on their way to Goa. Kumkum Bhagya, Qurbaan Hua and Apna Time Bhi Ayega move to Goa. Teri Meri Okk Jindri is shifting base to Jaipur while Kyun Rishton Mein Katti Batti is moving to Surat for now.

The lockdown in Maharashtra has made several television producers opt for shooting stints outside the state. The unit of Hamari Wali Good News, starring Juhi Parmar, is shifting to Manesar in Haryana for the shoot. As most small screen shows do not have banked episodes, they have been forced to continue shooting elsewhere with a changed storyline.

The scene is similar for many reality shows. According to sources, Indian Idol has an episode bank for two weeks right now and Super Dancer: Chapter 4 has a bank for a week. Confirming that his show is shifting base, lead actor Siddhaanth Vir Surryavanshi of Kyun Rishton Mein Katti Batti says the entire team was tested for Covid on Wednesday and will be travelling on Friday. Budgets will be impacted, of course. According to experts, the cost of shooting an episode per day comes to Rs 1-1.5 lakh minimum. In this case, it could go up to Rs 2-2.5 lakh per day.

Meanwhile, after showing a slight dip for a day, daily COVID cases in Maharashtra jumped beyond 60,000 on Thursday. The numbers remained below 10,000 and dropped by over 1,700 over Wednesday. While 349 were killed by the virus in Maharashtra, Mumbai's fatality figure touched 50.