While the film industry is slowly trying to crawl its way back to normalcy, with shoots of TV shows and films resuming, actor Sayani Gupta is still not convinced about the idea of getting back on set yet.
“I’m wary of the whole thing. I don’t want to start shooting right now. I don’t think we are ready,” she says.
The actor feels that the next few months, at least till October, are going to be very crucial for the film industry to assess the whole situation.
“Even when actors start shooting, I don’t want to be the first one out there. I’d first want to know what people’s experiences are. There are many who’re are in charge and smart enough to understand and evaluate the right way to go about it. I’m no expert, but I can say that it’s going to be very tricky and complicated,” asserts the 34-year-old.
There may be social distancing protocols in place, but the Article 15 actor still feels that it’s going to take much more time for work to resume completely, especially because of the huge number of people involved in the whole process.
“A film set is very hard to quarantine, especially in a country like ours. There’s a lot of human contact. Even with less number of people, how can an actor or a technician or a director not touch things, like props or each other?” asks Gupta, adding that it’s practically not possible for everyone to be wearing masks and gloves all the time.
“The heat and humid conditions in Mumbai make it just impossible. We’re not prepared at all right now. Everything will have to be re-evaluated and adapted to a post Covid world,” she says.
While she may not be back on sets anytime soon, two of Gupta’s projects have made way to the audience amid the lockdown via OTT platforms — second season of web series Four More Shots Please! and her new web film Axone, which is a quirky take on the life of Northeasterners living in Delhi.
“Imagine if we didn’t have content to watch. It has been stress-free, and entertaining for all of us. People are hungry for new content to watch. Our web series did exceedingly well because it came during the lockdown. In fact, every kind of content is doing very well these days. Even big films are coming on the web. It’s a good time for content creators,” the actor concludes.
