At a time when actors were shuttered at home, Rahul Dev was journeying across the country, shooting for films. Among the first few actors to resume shooting for a film after the lockdown, (he shot for Velapanthi in Punjab in June), Rahul is having “a very busy year.” Talking about the year which is otherwise subjugated by Coronavirus, he says, “I started shooting in June, and since then I have been working every day, barring the four weeks in between when I injured my shoulder and was forced to take time off and rest.”

The extensive travel, and ensuing fear of contracting COVID didn’t bother Rahul, who had taken to spirituality few years ago. “It never occurred to me even once that I might catch the virus. People around us are wearing masks, but we are without them because we are on camera. People were holed up at home out of worry, while here I was, travelling lengthily. My co-actor Aftab Shivdasani had tested positive, besides two more from another one of my film’s unit. I am as fragile as anyone else, I am not superman. But, I had faith because of his (referring to his spiritual guide) grace.”

Been India’s supermodel, and having entered films in an era when physical attributes of a hero sold tickets, Rahul also rode the tide of realistic cinema into India. “If it’s your craft and you are a body builder, then you better put on muscle. But if you are an actor, flaunting six packs is now considered almost regressive. Though audiences still enjoy that, and I, too, do some films that are unreal because that is demanded of me, but that is fantasy. Now, the larger narrative, both in films and on digital platforms, is real. It is closer to the ordinary. It is the tale about an ordinary man rising to become a hero, but in a realistic fashion.”

Talking about the way films and entertainment consumption started a new conversation amid the pandemic and went the OTT way, Rahul says COVID was just a catalyst of this change. “Undeniably, in India, love for the big screen isn’t going away for some more time, for actors as much as audiences. But the catcalls in theatres over a hero’s entry and action, is a by-product. It is now not ‘the’ focus. Yeah, I, too, continue to don that role at times because till I am not the captain (director), I have to disconnect my likes and dislikes from my craft and keep idealism apart. The job of an actor is to entertain, and do full justice to the director’s vision.”

But in his private space, Rahul, who made a comeback to films after a four year sabbatical, says he lives his idealism. “I never endorsed any product that I don’t believe in because here I am the captain,” he signs off.