Combating coronavirus: A poetic conversation with Covid-19

A teacher, doctor, sales professional, yoga instructor, dancer, chef, and others shoot a video from the safety of their homes to instil a sense of hope for the community

If you were to have a conversation with the dreaded coronavirus, what would you tell it? When this question popped up in the minds of the local actors from the Hindi and Urdu theatre community, they realised they all had one message for the virus. It was to tell it, that whilst its impact has put life for one and all on 'pause' for now, it hasn't hampered their spirit to both; fight and win.
The bunch of creators, who go by the name Udaan (Udaan, when translated to English, means flight), got together to communicate the message via a poetic narration. The video carries a message of hope and courage. Individuals, who feature in the video are Tabassum Inamdar, a doctor; Soni Chabbra, a teacher; Rohit Prakash; a sales professional; Amitt Kummar, a yoga instructor; Mahua Krishnadev, a dancer, among others - all stage actors by passion, driving home the message that one can't stand defeated by the virus and its challenges.
Shot in black and white frames, the video was released during the weekend and has already been viewed more than 1.5K times, and counting. The piece of poetry has been written by local actor-director-producer Rashmi Kotriwala. "We were looking at creating a positive message for everyone around," says Rashmi, who has been on the stage since the age of 10 and is the co-founder of The Junction, a performing arts space.
"All of us were missing rehearsals and the stage, so we thought of shooting something from the safety of our homes," she adds. The video features 12 actors and was shot, edited and produced within three days.
"It was a unique experience for me to narrate such a powerful message via a kavita (poem) and reach out to the artists and beyond," shares Sayed Taifur, the editor of the video, and a chef by profession.
purva@khaleejtimes.com