Divya Dutta is the only person from the shoot of her upcoming film to return home just before the shutdown
Ankita Chaurasia (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 25, 2020)

Divya Dutta was shooting for her upcoming film, Maa, in Punjab, till the film bodies called for a complete shutdown on production work for March 19-31 in light of the Coronavirus outbreak. The actress admits there was a lot of confusion in the days leading up to the decision. “Initially, we thought the outbreak was too distant to impact our lives, but when it became more real by the day, we took all precautions, including masks, hand sanitisers, washing hands and cutting down on the number of people on the unit. We even changed a location, from outside a hospital to a school,” she informs.

The National Award-winning actress is the only one from the team to have returned home. “I was travelling with my pet dog, Sakhi, in the train and reached Mumbai just before everything shut down,” she recounts, adding that the rest of the cast and crew, all mostly from Vancouver, are stuck in Punjab now. Since the film is only half complete, the makers won’t be able to release the Mother India-inspired story on Mother’s Day as per plan.

Meanwhile, Divya is making the most of the unexpected break, singing with her doctor-brother, Rahul, and working on her book. “I am on a deadline,” she shares, adding that she is also painting and cooking a little. “Most of my time in the kitchen is spent on building up my immunity. I am going back to the basics, beginning my day with a concoction made out of boiling turmeric, ginger and cloves in water. I keep having warm water with lemon throughout the day and also some haldi doodh,” she shares.

Ask her how she’s coping with home confinement and Divya points out that our grandmothers have been preaching safe practices long before the outbreak. “As a child, I would crib about visiting our ancestral home in Punjab, as the loo was located outside the house. Suddenly it makes perfect sense. Removing footwear outside the house, washing hands before eating, all this is a part of our culture,” she asserts, adding that now is the perfect time to reconnect with it.


Divya Dutta and her pet dog Sakhi returning to Mumbai by train