The show must go on

The last year-and-a-half has been crazy for all of us, to say the least. We never thought we would see this scenario in our lives apart from the sci-fi disaster films. When did we ever think we would have to remain within the confines of our homes for our own safety for months together? When did we ever think we would be yearning for the little things we took for granted? When did we ever think that there would be a big question mark on going and greeting someone warmly or hugging your friends? But this year-and-a-half has taught us huge lessons, ones we were always putting on the backburner.

With each designated person doing his or her job to the T, I felt a change in me as an actor too. I had dived deeper into my roles because I had seen how it felt to not be there at the place I am crazily passionate about

One of the biggest lessons we learnt was to co-exist amicably, with the environment, with the flora and fauna and with our very own people. Issues that remained unresolved as we didn’t want to face them and went about our daily chores, came staring at us in our faces as we all had to be together with nowhere to go. I think people understood each other very well during this time. For good, or for worse. But there was no midway. Things became clearer. Issues were faced and resolved. Relationships got stronger. Mostly.

The biggest takeaway for me was that I made friends with myself. Much that I missed my friends —- meeting them in person, going for meetings, movies, the ‘gol gappa’ breaks, casual walks on the beach — I did learn to give myself some ‘me time’. I had to face just being with myself too. I am lucky I live with my family but my life is so much of an outdoor life. I was missing shoots, and then work started gradually from home. But this was different. I had to be a one-man army!

On normal shoots, there is a designated person for every job, and it is so much fun calling out the door boy, “Dada, ek cup garma garam coffee lana please.” And to my super efficient staff, “Chalo makeup karein!” To the direction team, “Arey koi mera scene padh do.” There would be so much buzz on the sets. And here I was doing a cooking oil advertisement, setting up the sofas as the direction team told me on a Zoom call, did my own makeup and hair, switched on the camera myself, even cooked the food required as shoot props! I loved shooting finally, but I was missing my crew and the hustle bustle and how everyone on the set just came running to help.

Thankfully, when things opened up after the lockdown, I shot two amazing projects outdoors. Initially I was sceptical. The vaccine hadn’t arrived by that time and so everyone on the set was tested for coronavirus. And then they all secluded themselves from the outside world. That’s something called a bio-bubble. As we actors in front of the camera would be without masks, everyone was extra careful. Finally, when I reached the airport, I was delighted to see my lively staff members. I couldn’t hug them but yes, we literally jumped, we were so happy to meet, to get back to some normalcy… to work!

I have never been happier seeing my crew, I had tears in my eyes. That day I realised how much I loved my work and the people who make the experience worthwhile. Everyone was sporting masks taking care of us actors, washing their hands before they gave us anything. And when we all did the first shot, there was a loud cheer! Of course for the shot but also that we were together again doing what we loved most: making movies.

With each designated person doing his or her job to the T, I felt a change in me as an actor too. I had dived deeper into my roles because I had seen how it felt to not be there at the place I am crazily passionate about. So all that passion came trickling out… all the love that I felt for the people around was well expressed. I went out of my way to say something or compliment someone. It was nice to see those smiles on their faces.

There was a lot more laughter and sharing because we all had been deprived of it. We had all felt the same, and it was just like a booster shot in the arm to be back. After the first day of shoot, I stood at the terrace of the hotel I was staying in, looking at the open sky, breathing the fresh air and thanking the almighty for bringing us all back to work.

After all, it was just an unparalleled high to be on the set and call out to my team, “Chalo makeup karein, aur spot dada, ek garma garam coffee please!”