Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; March 22, 2018)

Shahid Kapoor had been neckdeep in work shooting for Batti Gul Meter Chalu since last month. However, a bout of viral infection has compelled the actor to cut short his Dehradun schedule and return to the city.

A unit hand tells us that both, wife Mira and daughter Misha, who had joined him at the shoot of the Shree Narayan Singh-directed film recently, have been under the weather since last week. It was during the shoot of a courtroom scene earlier this week that Kapoor, who had a sore throat then, complained of uneasiness. “Shahid was feeling unwell on Monday, but continued with the shoot nonetheless. His sore throat got aggravated as he had to deliver a dialogue in a high pitch. By Tuesday, he was down with high fever. It was then that the doctor recommended that he take rest. He was also advised to not strain his vocal cords. So, the shoot was cancelled for the day,” says the insider.

Worried about the schedule going awry owing to his health, Kapoor insisted on resuming the shoot after a day’s rest. However, when his health deteriorated on Wednesday, the producers compelled him to fly back to Mumbai and take adequate rest. “Shahid had barely three days of work left in this schedule. The producers assured him that the pending work can be accommodated in the next leg of shoot,” adds the unit hand.

The next schedule of the social drama, which revolves around the issue of electricity theft, is slated for the first week of April. Kapoor and his family returned to the city last evening. A source close to the actor informs, “He has viral infection and has been advised to rest it out this week. It was a wise decision to fly down to Mumbai as he needed better medical aid, which the shooting venue [outskirts of Dehradun] lacked.”

The actor’s spokesperson confirmed the news.