The actor calls herself a ‘home person’, but admits no one had imagined that the ‘world would come to a standstill’
Prashant Singh (HINDUSTAN TIMES; May 20, 2020)

She was shooting for Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 till days before lockdown 1.0 was announced. Before that, Kiara Advani was working back-to-back on her slate of films [Good Newwz, Laxmmi Bomb, Indoo Ki Jawani, Shershaah and Guilty]. But then, everything came to a screeching halt due to the Coronavirus pandemic. And the actor admits that sometimes, she finds it all “a bit unbelievable”.

“Honestly, no one — including me — imagined the world coming to a standstill,” says Kiara, adding that she has “anyway always been a home person”. “So, there’s not a feeling that ‘arrey, main atak gayi hoon (oh, I am stuck)’. But having said that, I do miss going on the sets,” she says.

Interestingly, the actor has been making great use of “all the free time”. “I’m using this to expand my knowledge vis-à-vis things that I had been mulling over. For example, I am trying to polish my Urdu diction, and there are so many institutions/universities that are offering free courses. So, the idea is to keep myself engaged in a productive manner,” she says.

Not just that, Kiara is also kicked that she is back in touch with so many people. “I always wanted to reach out to them. Now, I have reconnected with so many of my friends as well as my school teachers. And honestly, it’s such a warm feeling,” says the actor, adding that not many know she also plays online ludo almost every day with her friends and family.

At the same time, what’s really heartening for Kiara is to see the feeling of oneness in people. “Amidst the crisis, it’s great to see how people are valuing basics and finding happiness in them all over again. It’s clear that we all are in it together,” says the actor, adding that among other stuff such as meeting friends and family, an important thing on her to-do list once things go back to normal, is to enjoy a film in a theatre. “And that too, with my bucket of popcorn, but that may take some time,” she says.

At the same time, Kiara is also aware that another thing which “may take time” is a film team “being able to go back to the sets and work”. “I know that it will take some time for film shoots to resume because at any given point, we have 500-600 people on a set. But let’s keep our spirits intact for everyone,” she concludes.
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The written word!
Although Kiara has watched her share of content on OTT platforms during the lockdown period, there’s one thing that the actor wanted to do “in a more regular manner” but couldn’t — reading books. “I am not much of a reader but it’s definitely high on my to-do list. In fact, I have a list of books ready that I want to start [reading] soon,” she says. But in the meantime, the actor has managed to finish reading all the [film] scripts [offered to her]. “That way, I’m making the most of this period,” she says.