Rasika Dugal on the ongoing Covid crisis: The uncertainty is unsettling to different degrees

Actor Rasika Dugal had to hit the pause button on her shooting schedule in Ooty because of the rising Covid-19 cases. She is now spending everyday realigning everything, but the continued uncertainty is adding to her woes.

“Everything is in a limbo. I was shooting for a project in Ooty, and we didn’t even finish the schedule, but we had to get back since things were getting unsafe. That’s why the producers took a call to stop that shoot. Then I had to fly to Palampur for another shoot, which also got pushed a bit,” Dugal tells us.

She continues, “Right now, it’s funny, because every day I spend a considerable number of hours talking to my manager on the phone realigning dates. And the next day, we find that all that we talked about the day before doesn’t hold anymore. So we start from zero again”.

And that’s just a glimpse of the uncertainty looming large in the entertainment industry with the virus crisis taking a new turn every passing day.

“Living and working in this uncertainty is difficult. It is something that all of us deal with every day to different degrees. It is all very unsettling in different degrees. Everybody is trying to cope up, trying to figure out what the best and most responsible thing to do is,” shares the actor, who turns 37 on January 17.

To work or not to work is a tough call that actors, directors as well producers have to make every day.

“That’s also because the nature of our work requires us to meet many people everyday. I hope things settle down soon, but it is a hope that we are having since the past two years now,” says the actor, who has made a name for herself through OTT with projects such as Mirzapur and Out of Love in her work file.

She adds, “The hesitation to go out to work is there when the decision is being made. You are always wondering if everybody’s health has been accounted for or not. Also, it is never clear. You never know whether you are unnecessarily stopping work, or whether you’ve stretched yourself too much and it has become unsafe. Unfortunately, it is not clear to anybody”.

According to the actor, the ever changing situation amid the crisis adds to the trouble. “Everyone has to constantly make these very difficult decisions. There’s a lot at stake every decision that any producer makes on the show.

When it comes to her birthday, Dugal always aspires to spend it working. “We don’t have those luxuries as actors. We shoot through a lot of things and birthdays is no reason to take a holiday from shooting. So mostly, it’s always a working birthday for me. Last year, was a rare thing when I had an off on my birthday, and it like it that way,” she ends.