From the beginning, she kept a tab on the rising Coronavirus cases in the country, and stayed abreast of how the virus was wreaking havoc the world over. Yet, oddly, it was when the government announced theatre shutdown across the country on March 13, 2020, that Mallika Dua fully understood the gravity of the situation. Realising that airports would be the next to face restrictions, the actor-comedian booked herself on the next flight to Delhi. “I didn’t want to be far away from my parents in such a situation. The thought of ‘What if something happened to them?’ haunted me,” she recounts.

The first three months of the lockdown were filled with uncertainty. Even as the entertainment industry ground to a halt, Dua retained her Andheri pad. But, by June, her landlord had turned unsympathetic despite Dua continuing to pay full rent. “Instead of reducing the rent or keeping it unchanged, my landlord decided to increase it by 30 per cent. I had to leave the house. He forced me to vacate because he wanted to stay in the apartment for six months while he renovated his house. I couldn’t even be there during the shifting. From Delhi, I hired movers and packers, who, along with my driver, moved my stuff to a storage facility in Chembur. Luckily, I have the best friends one can ask for. They went to my place, video-called me, packed my precious items, and mailed them to me.”

As the situation slowly improved, Dua began working from her Delhi home. “I started shooting for Flipkart’s show, Fake Or Not, in my basement.”

Soon, work began pouring in – Myntra Fashion Superstar, Indoo Ki Jawani and the Netflix show, Comedy Premier League. “Fake Or Not did well, and was renewed for a fresh season. It was a simple show, shot with a two-person crew. The lockdown proved that people only care about content, and that can be created from anywhere in the world.”   

Spending a year with her family after a decade of being independent has been a comforting feeling for Dua. While she renovated her Delhi home over the past year, she will to move back to Mumbai in the near future and find herself a cozy apartment. “It will happen once the vaccination phases for all ages are complete.”

Today, a celebrity can lose themselves as there is a lot of noise on social media. Moreover, you don’t have the luxury to switch off as you might lose bit of work and that is a downside,” says actor-comedian Mallika Dua, who feels that we are consuming a lot than what we are creating today.

“On Twitter, there is some or the other bad news, on Instagram, your peers are doing something that you are not, or there is fear about what someone is saying on social media. So, where do you find time to create? You need to be pulled out of the limbo to go to work. Also, most celebs you can’t say what you want as the consequences can be huge, which isn’t all specific to just celebs,” adds Dua, who has been part of OTT shows, films and creates content on social media.

With the pandemic taking a toll on everyone in varying degrees, Dua emphasises the need to take care of one’s mental health, especially in 2020 and feels it is as important as looking after one’s physical health. “Mental health has never been taboo with me. I have open about going to therapy. More than big bad incidents, it is the everyday incidents that have a huge effect on one’s mind. Going to therapy should be like going to the gym. I had never known as much anxiety before I joined the entertainment world,” she shares.

She not only has been creating content for online shows but also has done acting parts in films. Dua regards everything that she does as acting. “When you do a caricature, it is acting as it is funny and over the top. So, I have always been acting. I never thought of myself as a comedian. In fact, people ask me about lack of female comedians and I think the reason is that when we raise our girls, we don’t say it is ok to be funny. It is not seen as desirable or profitable. We have to change this mindset,” she says.

She had a productive 2020 as she shot for three non-fiction shows and also enjoyed spending time with her parents in Delhi at a stretch due to the pandemic. “Few layers of pretence have been shed this year as we saw the real side people on social media. We learnt that we were living in excess and that family and work are all the essentials we need,” she says.

The actor will soon be seen in the Kiara Advani-starrer Indoo Ki Jawani in the role of a friend. She is glad that she wasn’t typecast as a chubby friend of the heroine. “My physical appearance was incidental for the role and I enjoyed shooting with Kiara. There was superb bonding. Back in the day, I would love to use dating apps and they were fun. But today, people recognise me and so that is not an option,” she says.