I know that we will survive this, says Shikha Talsania
Everything is so uncertain right now. I know that we’ll survive this but I don’t know how long that will take,” says actor Shikha Talsania as she urges everyone to remain positive at this time of a health crisis that has led to a 21-day lockdown across the country owing to the outbreak of Covid-19.
Dekh Behen, a play that she had co-directed was supposed to be staged across the country has been pushed indefinitely. As she looks for the silver lining, she says, “We come from a very privileged point but there are many people who can’t sit at home because that’s the nature of their jobs. It’s heart breaking to see our shoots and shows getting cancelled but that’s the need of the hour. However, art will always be there and it’ll always entertain us and reflect what’s happening in our times. We need to get to the other side of this with a lot of fervour.”
She believes that it’s a good time for artistes to put their creative skills up for display on their social media. “Covid-19 has hit every industry. But it’s really interesting to see various artistes coming out on their social media handles and offering some entertainment for everybody sitting at home,” she says.
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Di Wedding
(2018) actor stresses on the fact that not everybod y has the luxury of working from home. She explains, “People are spending time doing household chores, cooking, reading, watching stuff online, and developing a skill. There are also a lot of people who are putting up posts on social media about working from home. But the truth is that a lot of us, artistes, across the board are sitting at home.”
Talsania feels that a fund should be set up for the daily wage earners in the performing arts industry. “Covid-19 is a pandemic. I’ve never been on the producer’s seat ever but I know that it’ll take a while to recover the losses. But I believe that there needs to be a fund for those who usually earn on a daily basis,” she signs off.
Naseeruddin Shah stars in the short film, The Wallet, and the veteran actor cannot seem to stop praising the film’s debutant director Saumitra Singh. “Just as miniature is more difficult to make than a large canvas, short stories are more difficult than to write a novel, I feel short films are also difficult to make than feature films, since they have to be brief. Among all the short films I have done in the past couple of years, I would recommend The Wallet, written and directed by Saumitra Singh, which is a very simple, sweet and moving story. I really enjoyed working on it even though it is helmed by a first-time director. He was very clear with what he wanted.”
The short film features Shah with Navni Parihar in pivotal roles and narrates an incomplete love story of an elderly couple. Writerdirector Saumitra Singh explains why every project was important to him: “Every project, every journey is a learning experience. Yes, it’’s often a roller coaster ride, but that’’s the fun of it. I feel grateful to have worked with great icons of our film industry like Naseeruddin Shah and Navni Parihar,” he says.
Among all the short films I have done in the past couple of years, I would recommend The Wallet, written and directed by Saumitra Singh, which is a very simple and sweet story. NASEERUDDIN SHAH, ACTOR