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Bengaluru, Apr 16: The lockdown in the wake ofthe coronavirus pandemic has turned out to be a deeply painful story for the Kannada film industry.

Schedules have gone awry following the stay-at-home curbs and operators in Sandalwood, as the industry is popularly known as, say about 100 films under production are affected.

They include big budget movies- 'Raja Veera Madakari Nayaka', 'Kotigobba 3', 'Robert' and 'Yuvaratna.'

Noted producer Rockline Venkatesh told P T I that the loss to the industry is to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees.

In addition, it's a challenge for producers to secure the content of their movies from "piracy and leak" during long periods of time before their release, Venkatesh, who is Secretary of Karnataka Cine Artistes' Association, said.

A leading distributor said even after the lockdown is lifted and situation returns to normalcy, it remains a big question if investment in film business will pay off at all.

"People don't have money. We will know the impact when things become normal. Questions many ask if people will return to cinema halls like the way they did before or they prefer to stay away from crowd."

Venkatesh, who had also produced Rajinikanth-starrer 'Lingaa' and co-produced 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' with Salman Khan in the lead role, said it would take at least one to one-and- half years for the industry to be back on its legs.

"That too if the government does hand-holding but if the industry faces a bad hit in terms of income tax and GST and other taxation, 80-90 per cent of the industry will face closure," he said.

"It does not matter if the government does not help the industry but they should not trouble us with things like IT and GST," Venkatesh, who is also a distributor and artiste, said.

A top director said people's "behaviour" towards movies is crucial for the industry's health in the post lockdown scenario.

"With people likely to shy away from going to malls, cinema theatres because of large gatherings there, it's going to be a long road to recovery for us", an industry insider said.

Striking a philosophical tone, Venkatesh said all that people worry now is to save their life and keep good health, adding, amassing money and wealth is the last thing on their mind.

Producers Soorappa Babu and Umesh Banakar, who is also Vice-President of the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, told P T I that the industry has taken a huge hit.

Banakar said the loss to the industry due to the lockdown is at least Rs 1,000 crore.

"The coronavirus has affected the entire world. We don't know what to do; we just have to wait," Soorappa Babu, producer of Kiccha Sudeep-starrer 'Kotigobba 3', said.

Udupi, Jun 27: The Indian Meteorological Department and the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre have sounded Orange alert in coastal Karnataka as there is all possibility of heavy rain lashing the region for the next three days from Saturday.

According to the forecast, the district may get 100 mm to 115 mm rainfall. The District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has given instructions on taking precautions in the district.

All officers of district and taluk-levels have been told to compulsorily remain in the central position. The citizens should take care not to venture into rivers or the sea. They should also stay away from electricity poles, buildings, and trees, which might prove dangerous, and take shelter in safer places.

Bengaluru, Jun 5: Karnataka registered its highest single-day spike of more than 500 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infections in the state to 4,835, the health department said on Friday.

The previous biggest single-day spurt was recorded on June 2 with 388 cases.

Of the 515 fresh cases reported, 482 are returnees from other states, mostly (about 471) from neighboring Maharashtra. Udupi district saw a major spike with over 200 cases today and the total tally of the district breaching seven hundred cases mark, to stand at 768.

As of June 5 evening, cumulatively 4,835 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 57 deaths and 1,688 discharges, the department said in its bulletin.

It said, out of 3,088 active cases, 3,075 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 13 are in ICU.

On Friday, 83 patients have been discharged.

According to state COVID-19 war room data, out of the total 4,835 cases, 93 per cent (4,488 cases) are asymptomatic and 7 per cent (347) are symptomatic.

The new cases include 471 from Maharashtra, three from Delhi, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Haryana, and one from Tamil Nadu.

While one is with international travel history from Indonesia. Remaining cases include- contacts of patients earlier tested positive, those from containment zones, those who travelled from other districts, and the ones whose contact history is still being traced.

Among the districts where new cases were reported, Udupi accounts for 204 cases, followed by 74 from Yadgir, Vijayapura 53, Kalaburagi 42, Bidar 39, Belagavi 36, Mandya 13, Bengaluru Rural 12, Bengaluru Urban 10, Dakshina Kannada 8, Uttara Kannada 7, three each from Hassan, Dharwad and Chikkaballapura, two each from Ramanagara and Haveri, and one each from Davangere, Bagalkote, Ballari and Kolar.

Udupi district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 768 infections, followed by Kalaburagi 552 and Bengaluru urban 434.

Among discharges, Bengaluru urban still tops the list with total 271 discharges, followed by Davangere 147 and Mandya 146.

A total of 3,60,720 samples were tested so far, out of which 13,627 were tested on Friday alone.

So far 3,49,951 samples have reported as negative, and out of them 12,797 were reported negative on Friday.