One year of lockdown: Television actors share their stories of shooting in the 'new normal'

Sayantani Ghosh, Dev Joshi, Paritosh Tripathi (Photo/PR)

Along with the country, the television and Bollywood industry too took a pause during the lockdown, which was imposed on March 22, 2020. Exactly a year on, things have partially changed. Well, though the actors are back on sets, the COVID-19 situation continues to be worrisome. With numbers of cases shooting up at an alarming rate, the risk of a second wave in India has risen materially. Several states have already started imposing restrictions, including full lockdown and night curfew to contain the spread of the virus.

Amid possibilities of a second complete lockdown in the country, actors recall memories of the post-lockdown days and their 'new normal' shooting experiences. Television actors share their stories:

Sayantani Ghosh aka Daljeet Bagga from Tera Yaar Hoon Main:

Sayantani Ghosh

The nationwide lockdown completes a year, but our fight with COVID-19 has not yet ended and the second wave has hit us hard, giving us a recall alarm to not take things for granted. We take proper precautions on the set and follow all the protocols, but the truth of the matter is that regardless of how much precautions you take, there is always an element of chance and constant fear and concern in our heads. The experience is good because you are working and moving ahead in life; however, the uncertainty does bother you of what will happen, but this is the new normal and we have to live with it. The entire process is physically, very exerting and mentally, very exhausting. This is beyond any doubt a hardship that the human race is challenged with but we have to work around it. Back home, I follow a proper routine of doing my Betadine gargle, taking my Vitamin C and Zinc supplements, along with adequate sanitisation of the things.

Dev Joshi from Baalveer Returns

Dev Joshi

It has been a year since the lockdown and I somehow feel that I miss it now as I spent very memorable time of two and half months with my family in Ahmedabad. But yes, for the development and economy of the nation, as well as for the Television industry, we are back and are working hard to keep entertained all of the Baalveer Returns' fans. My experience after the pandemic has been quite different from before as its restrictive in some manners but for the safety of everyone, we are abiding by the rules till the time we are totally revived of COVID. As an actor, the most challenging part is to keep wearing a mask throughout as the linings of the mask on our face ruins the make-up and we have to keep re-touching it before the shot which consumes a lot of time but we try to maintain social distancing and follow all the rules to the extent we can. There is no particular incident that I can share but the COVID inspectors are always on the sets to ensure everyone's safety by wearing masks and using sanitisers from time to time. On a regular basis, after returning from the sets, I basically freshen up and sanitize my shoes, wash my clothes and masks. I, personally, take all the safety measures as we are unaware of people whom we have been in touch, travelling from sets to our home.

Paritosh Tripathi recalls shooting for Gangs of Filmistan

Paritosh Tripathi

During the pandemic, I started shooting for my comedy show Gangs of Filmistan. The shooting was done with all precautions and yes, within the decided time. We were not allowed to shoot at night and there used to be a limited number of people on the set. It was a very unusual sight for me because there were no long hour shoots anymore, no night shoot, fewer crew members. It was a lifetime experience for me.

Sharing an incident that took place during the shooting period, Tripathi said, "I remember as social distancing was the major measures that we had to follow. While doing Gangs of Filmistan, we use to do rehearsals on our cell phone, we read our script on video calls. Which earlier we never thought it would work but on the contrary, it was very convenient for all of us. Wherever we were we could rehearse without waiting for anybody. Pandemic made us quite self-dependent (Atmanirbhar) as our honourable Prime minister said."

The 'new normal' indeed made the actors 'Atmanirbhar'. "Earlier we had a spot boy who would took care of our refreshments, but in the new norms, we have started carrying our own requirements like water, tea etc. We all were so used to or I can say dependent on spot boy for tea and all, that initially, it became a bit uncomfortable because we were not used to it. We used to just call spotdada for water and now I carry everything I require throughout the day. And I am absolutely fine with it now."