Coping with the Corona: Learning Vfx to raising relief funds here's what Sandalwood celebrities are doing during the lockdown

We catch up with Ramesh Aravind, Priyanka Uppendra to know how the lockdown is treating each of them, and how they are coping with the corona
Coping with the Corona: Learning Vfx to raising relief funds here's what Sandalwood celebrities are doing during the lockdown

 The Coronavirus pandemic and the nation-wide lockdown that followed has put almost all of us in the same plane. When a major portion of the globe is undergoing a never-before-seen crisis and all one can potentially do to stop the situation from getting worst is staying at home, the challenges and surprises presented before us are entirely new. While most of us are figuring out ways to keep us engaged and healthy, and devising hacks to get through the situation. We catch up with a few celebrities from Kannada cinema to find out how they are dealing with the  lockdown. 

Ramesh Aravind



A chance to bond with family

"I am using this time for the betterment of my relationship with my family members. I have never folded my clothes in my life, and I've started am doing it now. To an extent, sharing domestic chores is helping me understand my family better. Perhaps for the first time in our lives, my wife, my daughter and I (my son is currently in the USA) are having all three meals together. Earlier, each one of us was travelling in our own orbit, but now we have got aligned.” 

A time for learning 

“Our professional work swallows at least nine hours of our time. I always wanted to learn ‘tally’ and financial accounting. Since I was a science student, I never understood much about debit and credit, voucher, journal entry and ledger. Since it was not that relevant to my profession, I didn’t take extra effort to get familiarised with those things. But now that I am also a producer, and I have the time and need to learn it. I am trying to get a hang of the accounting software and learn more about accounts. Secondly, I always wanted to learn VFX.  Though I would complete the entire film in five months, 15 minutes of VFX would take another five months to complete, which was very unsettling. So I was keen on understanding the process better. Now I am taking online classes from a friend for three hours every day. It helps me understand the technicalities way better.”

A time to work on fitness

“I've started practising Chinese Qi, a type of yoga, and Baare, which is popular in South Africa. I find these exercises creative, and sometimes, even funny.”

The much-awaited Shivaji Surathkal sequel update 

"Director Akash Srivatsa and I are working on the script for Shivaji sequel.  All of the writing is happening online. We are communicating through audio or video calls. I am also waiting for this lockdown period to get over, to plan and announce the release date of my next film 100.” 

A time for introspection 

"Since we all spend 8-10 active hours in a day, it means we roughly have 210 hours in hand. This is something you will never get again. I think this is when we need to analyse ourselves, see where we have messed up, and take corrective measures.” 

Priyanka Upendra

“All my house helps are in quarantine, and I have taken up all their work. 
The workload is so much that I hardly realise when the day starts and ends. I am cooking, and taking care of the family -- Uppi, kids and my in-laws. Cleaning the entire house single-handedly feels like an achievement. But Uppi is helping me with the dishes, and the kids too help me sometimes.

Though I planned to catch a few quality films and start writing, the daily chores are keeping me busy. But I managed to catch the Oscar Award-winning Parasite. I am hoping to watch more shows on Netflix, but it all depends on how much time I get. The entire day’s work gets me tired –so much so that I want to get to bed by 8.30 pm.

Chaitra Navaratri (Vasantha Navarathri), which falls on April 2, will be a low-key affair this year. Usually, we have the purohit come and perform the pooja. However, this year it will be quite simple.

My son, Ayush, is a Class 10 student. He has completed three exams and we are yet to get an update about the rest of the subjects. My daughter, Aishwarya, is in Class 9 and will start attending her school’s online classes from April 10.
 

Pawan Kumar, director

 “I am keeping myself busy an entrepreneur now. I came up with a crowdfunding initiative for daily wages who needed financial support after the lockdown. The initiative ended on March 31 and we were able to collect about `8 lakh, which will be distributed among the daily wage workers. I am also working on creating a better film production and distribution system that can create more employment. 

But the quarantine hasn't changed my lifestyle. It is pretty much similar, as I work online mostly. I've recently started sharing the household chores and I am able to spend a lot of time with my daughter.”

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