Lockdown can’t stop us! Dynasty unit shifts to Chandigarh to continue filming

Ekta Kapoor. Pic/AFP

Shooting in these trying times is as much a matter of luck as it demands logistical support. Ekta Kapoor learnt it first-hand as her offering, Dynasty, hit a roadblock within days of going on floors in Delhi. After the daily COVID-19 cases in the capital breached the 25,000-mark on Sunday, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a six-day lockdown from 10 pm Monday to the early hours of April 26. This posed a problem for the Arya Babbar-led political thriller that was to be filmed in Delhi over the next 14 days.

With desperate times calling for desperate measures, the unit of the Pankaj Batra-directed venture - which is said to be inspired by the Gandhi family - did the next best thing. "We are a slim team of 30. When the cases started rising and lockdown rumours started doing the rounds, we took a call to move to Chandigarh. Considering our director and Arya have a strong team of local technicians there with whom they work routinely, they felt the show could be shot comfortably in the city," reveals a source from the unit.

Arya Babbar headlines the series

According to the original plan, Batra - who has previously made Punjabi films Naughty Jatts (2013) and Goreyan Nu Daffa Karo (2014) - was to kick off the Chandigarh leg only after the crew had canned important sequences in the capital. However, a reworking of the schedule was necessary under the given circumstances. The source adds, "After doing a round of RT-PCR tests, we moved to Chandigarh where we're filming in a bio-bubble. No more than 10 people are allowed on the floor. We are running antigen tests twice daily, and RT-PCR tests on a bi-weekly basis." A 20-day stint in the Haryana capital has been chalked out, post which they hope to return to Delhi.

Producer Tanveer Bookwala and the team at ALT Balaji remained unavailable for comment.