In October, their cross-cultural love story will return to action with a three-month schedule in real locations
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 27, 2020)

Mirror was the first to report that Aanand L Rai’s next, Atrangi Re, featuring Dhanush, Sara Ali Khan and Akshay Kumar traces a journey from Bihar to Madurai. The filmmaker had revealed that like the title, all the characters in his cross-cultural love story are somewhat funnily weird. The shoot kicked off with Dhanush and Sara in Varanasi in March, but had to be abruptly stopped following the Coronavirus-induced lockdown. We have now learnt that with the industry opening up for work again, the film is gearing up to get back to action in October with a three-month marathon schedule in Madurai, Delhi and Mumbai.

Confirming the news, the director says, “Yes, I’m really excited to start the next schedule planned for October in Madurai. I have the full support of the cast and crew. We are hoping that things will improve by the time we are ready to shoot.”

The Madurai schedule will be followed by shoots in Delhi and Mumbai when Akshay, who has an important role in the film, will join the unit for a month. Aanand is expecting to wrap up the film by the year-end if everything goes as planned. The filmmaker asserts that there have been no significant changes in the script or the locations due to the pandemic. “Rather, during the lockdown, I got a lot of time to prep for the upcoming schedule,” says Aanand, adding that it would be a mix of outdoor and indoor schedules.

While the shoots till now are all confined to a studio set-up, Atrangi Re will be among the first few films to be shot on real locations during the ongoing pandemic across the country. The safety protocols have been taken care of and the team is expected to follow the viral bubble pattern adopted by sports persons for live events. The crew will have to be isolated together all through the three months and will have to strictly follow all the SOPs. “We will be filming outdoors, but it’s going to be a very organised shoot. Everyone is aware of the risk involved in not following prescribed guidelines and we will try to wrap up in the minimum time possible,” shares the director.

The film is written by his frequent collaborator, Himanshu Sharma, and has music by AR Rahman with lyrics by Irshad Kamil. It features Sara in a double role. The narrative is set in two different eras with the actress paired with Dhanush and Akshay in each era.