Lockdown effect: Bollywood actors work from home

Surely, the ongoing lockdown period has been tough for many but at the same time, it has also brought people's multi-talented avatars to the fore – right from cooking, cleaning to even creating content from within the confines of home. Interestingly, of late, lots of professional content has streamed out directly-from-homes of several biggies such as Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, Varun Dhawan and even makers such as Raj Nidimoru-Krishna DK among many others.

Varun Dhawan shot an ad film on his own at his Juhu home

For starters, Bachchan – under the 'on-phone direction' by filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari – shot a new promo of Kaun Banega Crorepati, at his Juhu home, by himself. A micro-series titled A Viral Wedding: Made In Lockdown – directed by Shreya Dhanwanthary and mentored by Raj and DK – was shot by actors at their homes.

Salman Khan's new song, Tere Bina – also starring Jacqueline Fernandez – was shot at his Panvel farmhouse by actors themselves. Also, Dhawan completed an ad film on his own at his Juhu abode.

Calling the song his "cheapest production", for Salman, it was "a learning experience that three people can very easily shoot a song." The actor – who came out with a coronavirus-themed song, Pyaar Karona a few days back – admits he didn't want to show his entire farmhouse in the song, as it's "his home."

For Dhawan too, his ad film shoot at home "was a one-of-a-kind shooting experience" as it involved several creative and production discussions, all of which were done on video calls. "It required me to be more involved at every step of the way," he says.

But how are the makers coping with the new style of direction/working? "For me, it has been a very unique experience, which I never even dreamt of. But you've to find novel ways of working in such difficult times. As an entertainer, it's great to learn and experiment with newer forms of storytelling. For the promo, Mr Bachchan was extremely enthusiastic and open to ideas. And that made life easier for us to write, get it shot and finish work from our homes," says Tiwari.

Experts also feel that for some time now, "working from home" is going to be the "new norm" for actors/directors too. So, while Nidimoru feels "we'll just need to become more innovative", trade expert Taran Adarsh says "technology can go long a way in helping create content from remote places". "Till the time things go back to normal and back on sets, creative people have to find a way to work and reach out to their fans," he says.

For special reasons!

Since the start of the lockdown, many actors have been making inspirational/motivational videos from with their homes. And the list includes Muskurayega India video featuring stars such as Akshay Kumar, Ayushmann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal among others; Family starring Bachchan, Alia Bhatt, Rajinikanth, Ranbir Kapoor, Chiranjeevi and Mohanlal etc.; Ajay Devgn's Thahar Ja, also featuring his son Yug; John Abraham and Kumar's special songs to salute frontline workers. Besides, a number of actors have also done promotional work for various OTT platforms from their homes.