This Film Production House Says No To Single-Use Plastic

Supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts towards a clean and green India is Chrome Pictures, a Mumbai-based production house behind the Bollywood blockbuster, Badhaai Ho. Its management is making a conscious effort to ensure that their offices, studios, and film sets are being adapted and improvised in order to minimise single-use plastic.

Says co-founder Aleya Sen, “We started doing this in May 2018 as a way to contribute to the initiatives taken by the PM. We avoid single-use plastic and materials like thermocol on shoot. As a company, we feel such initiatives at every possible level will only add momentum to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and Save Earth campaigns.” Some of their most celebrated works have been the ‘Salaam Bombay Foundation Anti-Tobacco Campaign’, the ‘IDEA’ campaign, The ‘Silent National Anthem’ for Big Cinema, ‘Lifebuoy Gondappa – Help a Child Reach 5’, and the Google Reunion TVC.

Her business partners Amit Sharma and Hemant Bhandari are equally on board.As a mandate, Chrome Pictures plants saplings after every outdoor shoot; high level efficiency in maintaining wastage is carried out. Jute bags and other bio-degradable material bags and crockery for catering are designed in-house. “The objective to reduce office waste got us thinking about alternative solutions. In our inner office, we have administered paperless solutions and have switched to digital and recycling methods.”

Every film production house hires crew members from all walks of life who may not come with the awareness and know-how of going green. In order to communicate their efforts and set rules in place, Sen’s team puts up sign boards in their office space and on set about eco-friendly measures taken by the production house. “It’s good to see people obey them and contributing towards freeing earth from single-use plastic,” she says. Crew members drink water out of designated glass bottles. They have a “no littering policy” on shoot location. “If that means installing a litter box every 10 feet, then so be it. It helps in maintaining cleanliness in the working environment,” she signs off.