Rishabh Suri (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 19, 2020)

My son Viaan was attending his virtual school, that’s why the call got delayed,” says Shilpa Shetty Kundra on why she couldn’t speak to us at the appointed time. Holed up at home due to the Coronavirus pandemic, she’s making the most of her time attending to her kids, especially her month-old bundle of joy, daughter Samisha.

Known as one of the fittest Indian actors, the 44-year-old recently posted a video on Instagram where she’s seen requesting people to not sit idle during self-isolation, and instead exercise. “Paucity of time is a major reason for missing out on exercise... Let’s utilise this ‘precious’ time to take care of ourselves by exercising at least 4 times a week and building a stronger immunity,” she wrote. And within a day, her post garnered more than a million views.

We ask what prompted her to do this video. She replies, “We underestimate the power of immunity. While we’re saying we should wash our hands and do external things, we need to strengthen ourselves from within too. Coming from the school of yoga, I really think internal cleansing happens only with pranayam. People sitting at home don’t know what to do, they’re bored. You make it an activity, and even use the stairs at home. I didn’t plan the video, literally woke up and went out saying, ‘Let’s do something which is interesting’. Physical activity helps you a lot, it’s a domino effect in a good way,” she tells us.

MOMMY STRESS
The pandemic has made people go into self-isolation, with schools being shut down. For Shetty, the stress must be accentuated since her children are so young. However, she isn’t worried. “There’s no reason to stress, what has to happen will happen. In fact, I look at the situation positively. People are actually valuing their health now, and suddenly paying attention to washing hands,” she says.

The actor is making the most of this time “in a selfish way”. She says, “I’m loving self-isolation. I have my baby at home along with my son. I worked 9 to 9 shifts everyday, including travel. This break is for your good health, so make the best of the family time!”

Since all shoots have been stopped till March 31, and most celebs aren’t working, is there anything else that Shetty isn’t able to do now in these times?

“Nothing. In fact, I can do more,” she says, adding, “My role as a mother takes precedence over everything. I wanted time to myself because I was like, ‘I have a new baby, how will I manage?’ God has his special ways of working things around for you. This break unfortunately came at a time which isn’t a happy situation for people suffering from it. For me, it was a much needed break for my two kids.”

WORK, too COMES TO A HALT
The actor’s fans were excited because she was all set to make a comeback to films with not one, but two projects — Nikamma and Hungama 2. However, both the shoots had to be stopped. The sets of the former actually were dismantled. “We were shooting the climax and a song, everything came to a standstill. It was literally the end of the film, but for me, it now goes into (the dates for) Hungama as well. Let’s see how this goes. Health is of paramount importance,” she adds.