"In all these years, we had not remained shut for even a day," says Nitin Desai, who closed the doors of ND Studio last month in the wake of the pandemic. At the time, a lavish set had been constructed for The Battle of Bhima Koregaon, a period drama featuring Arjun Rampal, and the Raigad fort recreated for a Marathi film. Desai tells mid-day that he has decided to forgo the rent of the sets standing unused at the Karjat studio.

"I am not the only one suffering losses at this point, the entire world is. So how can I expect them to pay the rent when everything has come to a standstill? I will also appeal to other studios to follow the same practice," he says, adding that despite the adverse conditions, he is continuing to pay his staff.