The pandemic has compelled everyone to think out of the box—from conducting remote shoots to seeking digital premiere of movies. Harshvardhan Rane has taken it a notch higher—the actor, who had tested positive for Coronavirus earlier this month, dubbed for Bejoy Nambiar's Taish from his hospital bed.

In his bid to meet the October 29 deadline, Rane recorded a few lines on his phone, at the director's behest. "I made a small studio in the hospital with 12 blankets when I was in the ICU," explains the actor, adding that the medical staff initially found his sudden requests for blankets rather worrisome. "The nurses felt I had lost my mind when I told them it was to create a small dubbing studio. I made a little den to minimise the external noise to ensure clarity. They had to work on the sound professionally after I sent them the recording. Taish worked as an anti-COVID drug for me."

A firm believer in doing his homework, Rane got into the skin of the character before shooting for the ZEE5 project. "I had locked myself up [to channel] the character's rage," says the actor, who had then temporarily shifted his base to the outskirts of Mumbai. He also credits Nambiar for giving him a free hand to interpret his character. "Bejoy has this great quality of not spoon-feeding his actors. He also acknowledges the audience's intelligence and serves [content that gives them a window] into his thoughts." Taish has been developed in two formats— a two-hour film and a six-part series.

Ready to bounce back to work, the actor will resume shooting for the Taapsee Pannu and Vikrant Massey-starrer Haseen Dillruba later this month. "We were supposed to finish [the schedule] in March. We returned from Haridwar, and in the next 24 hours, the lockdown was announced."