Supriya Pathak has been shooting for her new Gujarati film in Ahmedabad. In a candid chat, the actress talks about working amid the Coronavirus pandemic and why Bollywood is often targeted. Excerpts:

It was a tough decision to start working again, as things are definitely not under control. But how long can we sit at home? There is no surety about when things will improve, so we have to brave the odds and start working. It has been a difficult phase for everyone and the sooner we resume work, the better it is for the industry. And even though shooting in the new normal is a different experience, I am excited to be back on the set after such a long gap.

Age should not be the deciding factor about whether one can work or not. This virus affects people of all age groups and if one is healthy, then one should start working. Of course, one must be careful and take all necessary precautions. Just because one is a senior citizen, it should not stop one from being on the set and doing what one loves the most.

People have a lot of free time right now and so, they are focusing so much on the Hindi film industry. Our industry has always been a soft target. I don’t deny that there are serious issues that need to be addressed, but targeting the industry unnecessarily is wrong. Nobody is talking about the real issues that our country is facing. This is not the first time that Bollywood has been targeted, but every time it has happened, we have come out of it stronger than before. We are together in this and I am sure that we will come out of it very soon.

My mother was an actress and I was fortunate that I didn’t have to go through the drill that many actors who don’t belong to filmi families do. But it doesn’t mean that I didn’t have my struggle. One can’t escape hardships, they can be of a different kind. The key to survival is that neither the highs, nor the lows should impact you beyond a point. Acting is just our job and we must treat it like that.