Since the commencement of ‘Lockdown’ in the country, all industries came to a standstill including Bollywood. But now, with the procedure of ‘Unlock’ setting foot in India, many industries have started off with their business. The Entertainment industry is also slowly getting down to business and starting with their shoot. In the midst of all these, director Anubhav Sinha is now joining hands with 4 other directors to make a film on coronavirus pandemic. The ‘Thappad’ director is known for making films on social issues including ‘Article 15’, ‘Thappad’ and others.

Teaming up with Hansal Mehta, Sudhir Mishra, Ketan Mehta and Subhash Kapoor, Anubhav Sinha will be producing the film under his production banner, ‘Benaras Mediaworks’. Giving voice to the idea behind the film, Sinha said, “It will be an interesting bunch of names, to tell stories of an interesting time in our lives. We will all interpret this period - starting February/March 2020 - and we will all tell a story from it."

"This is such an interesting time, you know - even though I realise interesting may not be the best word. Sudhir bhai's driver had contracted Covid-19 and he was unable to get a bed - and we were making all sorts of phone calls just to get him a hospital bed. Uss raat mere dimaag mein aaya ki humein usko document karna chahiye. And what better way to do it than different filmmakers looking at different things? Sudhir bhai ke pitaji ki death hui Covid period mein. We lost Irrfan - aur hum Irrfan ke janaaze par bhi nahi jaa paye. Nikloon ki nahi nikloon Tigmanshu (Dhulia) ko Police se jhagda karna pada - he said main toh jaaunga, bhai hai mera!" the director added.

Confirming the same, film critic Taran Adarsh took to his Twitter and wrote, “IT'S OFFICIAL... After #Thappad, Anubhav Sinha to produce an anthology film [not titled yet]... Based on stories and experiences from #CoronaVirus pandemic... #AnubhavSinha, #SudhirMishra, #HansalMehta, #KetanMehta and #SubhashKapoor will direct a story in this anthology film.”


The ‘Article 15’ director then revealed how he convinced the other directors to create a film revolving around this topic. He said that at first it was disturbing but he felt the need to record it, so he called up his friends and decided to make a movie on it. He added, “And that's how the idea behind it began to formalise. This seemed like a good collaboration for all of us. There's one story by Subhash, one by Hansal, one by Sudhir bhai, one probably by Ketan. These are filmmakers that I believe the so-called Bollywood has largely ignored.”

Further, while giving out information in each story, the filmmaker explained how every story is different from the other. He said, “Hansal’s story is quite comic and quite tragic. Sudhir bhai's is quite political. Subhash's is also political, but in a different way. I am still struggling with my story - I want to tell an atmospheric story, which is about fear. I live on the 20th floor and I can see a very large expanse of Mumbai from my window. It has suddenly started looking like a deserted, dead city. And Ketan is saying 'main dekh ke batata hoon'."

This untitled movie is expected to release in 2021.

Watch this space for the latest updates.