India Lockdown trailer out: Madhur Bhandarkar brings stories from the pandemic

ZEE5 on Thursday released the trailer for Madhur Bhandarkar's India Lockdown. Written by Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah with Madhur, the film highlights four parallel stories set during the Covid-19 pandemic. Its cast includes Shweta Basu Prasad, Aahana Kumra, Prateik Babbar, Sai Tamhankar and Prakash Balewadi, and Hrishitaa Bhatt in a cameo.

As seen in the trailer, Shweta Basu Prasad plays Mehrunissa, a sex worker in Mumbai's Kamathipura in Mumbai who is forced to adapt to the lockdown and experiment with new ways of doing her business online. 

Aahana Kumra plays Moon Alves, a pilot who is suddenly grounded for months and left in the lurch. In another story, Prateik Babbar and Sai Tamhankar are migrant workers who lose their livelihoods in the pandemic and are left to either starve or walk back home.

Finally, Prakash Belawadi appears as Nageshwar, an old man who is stuck in a different city than his daughter at a critical time of her life.

India Lockdown releases on ZEE5 on December 2, 2022.

Shweta Basu Prasad said, "We all experienced the lockdown of uncertainty, including sex workers. When people ask me that how did I prepare to play the part of a sex worker, it’s just another role, story of a human being and as an actor it’s a privilege to play so many different kinds of roles. I researched a lot, in fact Madhur sir and the team took me to Kamathipura in Mumbai where I met fee sex workers and picked on their lingo, body language and mannerisms. I also realised that human emotions are a universal experience."

Prateik Babbar said, “We all read about the state of migrant workers due to the lockdown imposed in 2020 but I didn’t expect to represent them 2 years later in a Madhur Bhandarkar film. My role as a migrant worker in India Lockdown gave me an opportunity to come closer to them and feel what they felt - the uncertainties and the struggles unlike ever before - during the 2 most difficult years of their life. I hope that this film strikes a chord with people across the world and that we treat each other with more compassion."