Satish, Anupam’s BFF bond: Isolated yet connected
Rishabh Suri
Amid the lockdown due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the one thing that keeps actor trio Anil Kapoor, Satish Kaushik and Anupam Kher going strong is their friendship and video calls. What went viral recently was a video of Kapoor calling Kher from below his house, all because the latter was in quarantine after returning from New York.
And then it was Kaushik’s turn, who made a video call to connect with Kher and rued how it was the first time in their 45-year-long friendship, when they couldn’t meet each other in person.
The 63-year-old laughs over this and says, “We are all at home, so we keep talking to each other. Anupam lives in the same lane as Anil, while I live at a 10-minute distance. There’s so much pressure, work has stopped and films are not releasing. One might think that they can work on a script in self-isolation, but how do you do that? That’s why I am here, telling Anupam, ‘Tune pehle video call uske saath kyun banaya?’. We have a funny equation. When I am not there, Anil and Anupam b **** about me, and the same is for each one of us!”
Currently keeping Kaushik busy is his eight-year-old daughter Vanshika, with whom he spends time playing board games. “She keeps everyone on their toes. I spent an entire day trying to figure out the apps she needs for virtual classes. She also keeps reminding me, ‘Papa, today is no phone day’,” laughs Kaushik, who was shooting in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, when the situation worsened.
Kaushik says, “Some situations are unimaginable. On March 14, I was shooting and was supposed to be in Delhi for the next three days. But something made me return to Mumbai, and since then, I am inside my house. Calamity aati hai toh aadmi apne aap seekhta hai.”
On the nationwide lockdown, he adds, “It is a brave step and the only resort to break the chain. Prevention is cure for this pandemic. So stay at home and don’t come out. These 21 days will decide the future of our country.”