Hindustan Times ST (Jaipur) - Hindustan Times (Jaipur) - City
Unlock 2.0: Lights, camera, action, challenges!
Etti Bali
With TV shoots resuming after almost 100 days since their shutdown amid the Covid-19 crisis, actors are excited, yet extra cautious about their safety on the set. A popular daily sitcom recently shot for a few episodes and its lead actors admit to having experiences like never before.
Glad to be back at work, actor Shubhangi Atre confesses that there’s a constant fear of being exposed to the virus. “There are scenes where I am supposed to sit on the bed or sofa or work in the kitchen; it requires me to touch something that would have been touched by other people, too. Even though they are sanitised properly, darr toh lagta hai,” she says.
The actor also opens up on why the idea of wearing face shields even while shooting the scenes had to be dropped. “Every time we would start speaking, the shields would get foggy, so we had to remove it and shoot again. Also, wearing a mask messes up the makeup, especially the lipstick, so I had to do the touch-up myself,” adds the actor, who prefers doing makeup herself.
Actor Aasif Sheikh, one of the male leads of the show, shares that while he was sure about resuming work, his family was skeptical. “They wanted me to wait because I’m 55 and more vulnerable..., so I am being more careful,” he says.
Elaborating on changes made on the set, Sheikh points out that the crew has come down from 50 to just 20 people, that too in shifts. “Those who do the lights fix them and leave. We’re using three cameras to shoot. There are only four to five actors on set and we maintain distance. We only remove the mask while facing the camera. Even during rehearsals, we keep them on,” he says, adding that scenes are wrapped within 30 to 45 minutes to finish shoot early.
Outlining how scenes are being planned keeping social distancing in mind, Atre adds, “Shots where would simply hug or push my onscreen husband, we are avoiding those.”
Elaborating on other challenges, Sheikh quips how it has become difficult to recognise people behind masks and PPE kits. “The set looks weird and at times, following directions becomes a challenge because you don’t know who is saying what. But we’re managing,” he says.