Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai actor Rajesh Kumar tests positive for COVID-19

Picture Courtesy: Official Instagram Account/Rajesh Kumar

In another unfortunate piece of news, Rajesh Kumar, best known for his portrayal of Roshesh in Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai, has tested positive for COVID-19. He took to his Instagram account to inform his fans about the same.

Sharing a post on his Instagram story, he wrote, "I would like to inform my beloved fans and well wishers that I have tested Asympomatic positive for Covid-19. I am asymptomatic and under home quarantine. I am being taken care of very well. I thank you all for your prayers and and good wishes. See you soon in "Excuse Me Madam" on Star Bharat. Love you all." (sic)

Have a look right here:

In an exclusive interview with mid-day.com, the actor talked about his show Bhalla Calling Bhalla and his experience of shooting for it during the lockdown. He said, "Shooting is the biggest challenge right now. Once this was discussed, I didn't understand how this would be done and then realised it could be done on Zoom with all our laptops in front of us. But I never knew this concept will involve the whole family where you ask your kids to do the setting, your wife to do the camera, and then you're acting and seeing the lighting yourself and the setting yourself. So there was a certain hitch about whether this will happen or won't happen."

He continued, "But thankfully, with the way the script was written and the way it was directed, it became so easy at the end of the day. It never felt we were shooting for a series. And when you watch it, you won't feel we have shot it with an android. You won't understand any light or sound problem. So going with the age and technology, the concept, when it was pitched, half of the battle was won and we need to appreciate that. The biggest advantage is that concepts like this can be used for all the actors who are sitting at home."

Talking about shooting at home, the actor said, "Those scenes where I get drunk and all and there was a very thin line because it is a very tough scene to perform. The scenes of Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan from Sharaabi are embedded in our heads that it's very difficult for you to perform uniquely. So that was the challenge. I was very nervous since it was a two-page monologue and it took me two days to prepare for this scene."

He added, "I am talking to myself in the sense that the way I'm talking to you via my phone. I'm talking to my wife where I'm accusing her that it has been 25 years since our marriage and you've really irritated me a lot. But I was not supposed to sound like a drunk, and yet I was out. Sometimes when you speak, people in their drunken conditions don't remember the next day what happened. A lot of people remember the time but nothing more. So performing at that stage when you're understanding everything but you don't know what you're talking, that was the challenging bit."

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