Rakul Preet Singh recalls her last day at work before the industry-wide shutdown, till March 31, came into force
Akash Bhatnagar (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 21, 2020)

Earlier this week, Rakul Preet Singh shared a group selfie from an ad film shoot. The actress and the people around her posed with face masks and hand sanitisers. “Please don’t step out unless absolutely necessary! Could not cancel today’s shoot but the entire team took precautions! Don’t be paranoid but wise. Think positive and fight Coronavirus with a smile,” she wrote.

Harking back to the day, Rakul says, “Leaving home felt like going to war. We made sure that there was a doctor on set and a limited crew. It was the toughest shoot, considering the paranoia (around the outbreak). No one was allowed inside my van except my entourage.” Meanwhile, work on two of her upcoming films, the John Abraham co-starrer Attack and a yet-untitled project with Arjun Kapoor has been put on hold.

On March 15, film bodies including the Indian Film and Television Directors’ Association, Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association and the Indian Film and TV Producers Council directed all film, TV and OTT productions to be halted till March 31 for safety reasons. As a consequence, Rakul informs, all her shooting dates have gone for a toss. “I was supposed to be shooting every single day during this time. All of that is now going to fall in April for both my films. On April 10, I was to start work on Thank God (with Ajay Devgn and Sidharth Malhotra). But now, I don’t know what’s going to happen. This is the longest break of my life,” she sighs.

Rakul, who made her Bollywood debut with Yaariyan in 2014, didn’t return to the Hindi big screen till Aiyaary four years later. “At the time of my Hindi debut, I was a naïve 20-year-old who didn’t know one had to be in Mumbai to find more work. I had started shooting for my Telugu debut by then, which became a hit. Before I knew it, I had signed two-three big films there and decided to stick around,” she explains.

She goes on to inform that she was supposed to feature in the M S Dhoni biopic, in the role that eventually went to Disha Patani due to scheduling conflicts. Neeraj Pandey’s Aiyaary, in which she featured alongside Sidharth and Manoj Bajpayee, gave her the impetus she needed to return to Hindi films. “During the four years away from Mumbai, I did 18 films down South. I understood that people didn’t know my body of work in Mumbai. I met everyone again and De De Pyaar De (Luv Ranjan’s production co-starring Ajay and Tabu) came my way. And I felt it was time to make the transition (back to Bollywood),” she says.

Ask her about the challenges of making it as an outsider and Rakul says, “When I decided to become an actor, I knew it wouldn’t be served on a platter to me but that’s the fun of it. Being an outsider, you might not get the first opportunity, but at the end of the day, it’s talent that survives. Alia Bhatt is one of the finest actors today, not because she is Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter. She has proven herself. Today, outsiders are welcomed so warmly, be it Ayushmann (Khurrana), Vicky (Kaushal), Anushka (Sharma), Taapsee (Pannu) or Rajkummar (Rao). I understand it will take time for me but you can either crib about it or you can work towards your goals. I choose the latter.”

Does she feel the pressure to stand out among the current generation of actors, like Ananya Panday, Janhvi Kapoor and Nushrat Bharucha? “I don’t get into these pressures. We all have our pros and cons and different personalities. There are bigger and better things to worry about,” Rakul signs off.