Producers of Taapsee Pannu-starrer Looop Lapeta trying to get film insured against COVID-19

The emergence of COVID-19 has brought about a change in the working style of many businesses, including the film industry. Besides the various precautions that a film unit will be taking during shoots, it  seems that insurance against COVID-19 could soon be a possibility.

In fact, Atul Kasbekar and Tanujj Garg, the producers of the upcoming Looop Lapeta (2021), are already trying to get their film insured against COVID-19.

Sharing this in a chat with the news agency Indo-Asian News Service (IANS), Kasbekar said: “We are still in talks with a legal expert, Anand Desai. What a COVID-19 insurance will essentially entail is the same as what an accident insurance covers. Insuring a film so far entailed guarding the film against unforeseen incidents, like illness of an actor or occurrence of natural calamities leading to delays in the film's schedule. As COVID-19 is relatively new, we are still working on the details, but it essentially works in a similar fashion.”  

Throwing more light on it, he added, “For instance, if a crew member tests positive, the entire movie crew might have to be possibly quarantined. In that case, the producers will be covered for the money they are spending on days lost.” 

Kasbekar also pointed to situations where a key member of the crew testing positive for COVID-19 would force them to stall the shoot. “So, in case, the DOP [director of photography] of a film were to test positive mid-film, it is likely to stall the shoot of the movie till he recovers or till a suitable replacement is found in double quick time to retain the visual language of the motion picture. So there are these points being discussed. Tanujj and I are working on a draft of the insurance and hoping that it materialises soon,” he said.

Looop Lapeta is an adaptation of the German cult hit, Run Lola Run (1998) written and directed by Tom Tykwer. The story follows a woman who needs to obtain 100,000 Deutschmarks in 20 minutes to save her boyfriend's life. Besides Pannu, who plays the lead, the film also stars Tahir Raj Bhasin.