‘We haven’t conquered Covid yet, I won’t risk my family, don’t want audiences to risk theirs’
Life has just started to get back to normal with public places such as theatres reopening in phases. While they were shut, many makers released their films on OTT platforms. Mrunal Thakur’s recent film, Toofan also had an OTT release.
Ask her if she’d be okay with her future lineup heading towards OTT if Covid plays spoilsport again, and she says, “I’m an actor and my first agenda is meri film bikti isiliye hai kyunki log dekhte hain. But their health is of paramount importance. I’m not going to risk my family and I don’t want my audiences to risk theirs by going to theatres”.
Thakur makes it clear that Covid hasn’t disappeared and is still a part of our lives. “We haven’t conquered it. There’s vaccination and things are getting under control, but aren’t totally in control yet,” says the actor, who had also starred in the web anthology Ghost Stories (2020). Although she admits that it doesn’t matter if her projects come on OTT platforms, the actor in her does crave the thrill of a theatrical release.
“What matters to me is reaching out to people at their convenience. With OTTs, they can play or pause any time they want, they don’t have to spend more. Of course, as an actor, I want to attend red carpets and make that grand entry just like Deepika Padukone in Om Shanti Om (2007). But things are changing and I’ve to get used to that,” she explains.
Thakur, who turned 29 yesterday, has welcomed change in her personal life too. “I am not at all a birthday person, I get embarrassed when someone wishes me. We haven’t stepped out as a family for two years, so this was the first birthday when I planned a small getaway with my parents,” she ends.