Last year, filmmaker Vipul Amrutlal Shah and his wife, actress Shefali Shah had to put in a lot of effort to bring their sons, Aryaman and Marya, back home from Spain where they are enrolled for higher studies and professional training in football. It has been a year since then, but their sons have not been able to go back to Spain.

Vipul, who has several films including Sanak and Commando 4 in the pipeline, says, “Every situation has some positives and negatives. It was a challenging time for everyone when our children came back home last year, but we got a lot of family time together. I understand my wife and my kids better today, because we got a lot of time to sit and talk to each other with no work beckoning for a long time. Gradually, we all went back to work. From doing readings online to going back to shoots, and then being pushed back into lockdown again, the last 12-14 months have taught us a great deal.”

He adds, “Everyone is battling this pandemic and looking for their own solutions. The idea is to embrace changes as fast as possible and make them a way of your way of life. My children have not gone back to university as Spain is also recovering from the pandemic situation. We were planning to send them back, but decided not to. This one year has been completely wasted for them. For football trainees and even for kids in general, the loss of a year is big. But then, it‘s important for them to be safe. We can figure out things when we get to the other side.”

Shefali says, “The last year took away precious moments from children. Aryaman missed his graduation ceremony. Just when we thought he could go back to his studies and his training, we went into a lockdown again. These are important moments in a kid’s life — to be able to attend a university of his choice, pursue education or train in sports. Kids were deprived of it. I am sure it is taking a toll on them, too, because in my kids’ case, soccer is a part of their life. They are putting up with losing out on it. They do realise that there are bigger things at stake right now.”